Left femur of extinct elephant, Alaska, Ice Age
Disease has a very long history on Earth. From an extinct species of elephant – possibly a mammoth – this long leg bone measuring just under a metre shows two bone cysts. The bone dates from the Pleistocene Ice Age (11,500 to 1.8 million years ago). The bone was originally in the collection of Roy Moodie (1880-1934), an American paleopathologist who studied prehistoric disease.
Object number:
A272118
Related Themes and Topics
Glossary:
Glossary: cyst
An enclosed sac that is filled with liquid or semi-solid matter.
Glossary: bone
The very hard and dense connective tissues that join to form the skeleton. Made of collagen fibres and bone salts.
Glossary: femur
The thigh bone. It is the longest bone in the human body.