14 DAY TRIAL // The latest chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians has revealed that they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer.
This is the strongest evidence that even if the penicillin was invented in 1928, the art of making antibiotics was no secret 2,000 years ago.
The research was led by Emory University anthropologist George Armelagos and medicinal chemist Mark Nelson of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Armelagos said that “we tend to associate drugs that cure diseases with modern medicine, but it's becoming increasingly clear that this prehistoric population was using empirical evidence to develop therapeutic agents.
“I have no doubt that they knew what they were doing,” he added.
It all began in 1980, when Armelagos,who is a bioarcheologist and an expert on prehistoric and ancient diets, discovered what seemed to be traces of tetracycline in human bones from the ancient Nubian kingdom, located in present-day Sudan, south of ancient Egypt.
The bones were dated between 350 and 550 AD and belonged to populations that had left no written records whatsoever.
Later, Armelagos and his team linked the source of the antibiotic to the Nubian beer, thanks to the fact that the grain used to make the fermented gruel contained the soil bacteria streptomyces, that produces tetracycline.
The question then was whether tetracycline was in all batches of the ancient beer or was is just an accident.
Mark Nelson, who is an expert in antibiotics, became interested in the project after hearing Armelagos speak at a conference.
“I told him to send me some mummy bones, because I had the tools and the expertise to extract the tetracycline,” Nelson said.
“"It's a nasty and dangerous process. I had to dissolve the bones in hydrogen fluoride, the most dangerous acid on the planet.”
The results were stunning: “the bones of these ancient people were saturated with tetracycline, showing that they had been taking it for a long time.”
“I'm convinced that they had the science of fermentation under control and were purposely producing the drug,” he said.
He added that the fact that tetracycline was also found in the bones of a four-year-old suggests that they were giving him high doses to cure him of illness.
It is known that the ancient Egyptians and Jordanians used beer to treat gum disease and other disorders, and Armelagos said that it is possible that the art of fermenting antibiotics was widespread during ancient times.
The study is published in the current issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.