Mummies, Parasites, and Pathoecology in the Ancient Americas

Abstract

Mummy studies can make important contributions to the field of parasitology. Several theoretical approaches emerged in the field relevant to archeoparasitology and especially mummy studies. Three of these areas are summarized below. The ecological approach to reconstruction of infection patterns is pathoecology. A concept key to understanding prehistoric infection occurrence is nidality. A new evolutionary perspective has been defined as the Stockholm Paradigm. In this review, we propose an approach to mummy studies that provides outlooks relevant to current and future trends in parasitology.