Ancient Egyptian scribes who put brush to papyrus thousands of years ago are often depicted as kneeling or sitting cross-legged 鈥� working postures that apparently took a toll on their bones.
The skeletons of 30 such scribes show more degenerative changes in certain bones and joints compared with 39 other adult male Egyptians from the same region and time period. All the bodies were buried in a necropolis among the pyramids at Abusir, Egypt, between 2700 and 2180 BCE.
Beyond signs of physical stress in their spines, shoulders, knees, hips and ankles, the scribes鈥� skeletons also have degenerated jaw joints 鈥� possibly from repeatedly chewing rush stems to form brush heads for writing.
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鈥淭oday, someone would probably advise them not to write with their head down and chew that rush pen,鈥� says at the National Museum in Prague in the Czech Republic.
Havelkov谩 and her colleagues examined the physical remains to record their characteristics, then statistically analysed the presence or absence of more than 1700 different features on each skeleton, such as changes on the surfaces or edges of joints that may indicate osteoarthritis.
The team considered possible causes for such skeletal changes by looking at statues or wall decorations from the Old Kingdom period of Egypt, which depict scribes in various sitting or standing positions, says at the Czech Institute of Egyptology, a co-author on the study.
Skeletal changes in the knees, hips and ankles seem the most likely to be associated with scribal work, whereas other changes could be explained by multiple activities or behaviours, says at the University of Southampton in the UK. But she praised the study for linking the skeletal analysis with archaeological evidence portraying specific body postures.
Unlike ancient scribes, modern office workers have ergonomic chairs and standing desks 鈥� but they can still experience skeletal changes. 鈥淭he key thing to realise is that repetitive activity, especially if started from a young age, will have an effect on bone morphology,鈥� says Zakrzewski. 鈥淪o if we keep doing the same activities, we will change our bodies.鈥�
Scientific Reports
