UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Contending with illness in ancient Egypt: A textual and osteological study of health care at Deir el-Medina Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4rw1m0cz Author Austin, Anne Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Contending with illness in ancient Egypt: A textual and osteological study of health care at Deir el-Medina A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Archaeology By Anne Eliese Austin 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Contending with illness in ancient Egypt: A textual and osteological study of health care at Deir el-Medina by Anne Eliese Austin Doctor of Philosophy in Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Willeke Wendrich, Chair Archaeologists primarily address disease, illness, and health through biological studies of human remains. These studies convey physical suffering in the past, but without broader social context, they do not document how culture responds to illness. As a result, we lack explanations for the relationship between physiological health and social health care. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to develop a model for an archaeological investigation of health care that incorporates both biological and social factors to analyze not only how individuals died, but also what factors helped them to survive in the past. This dissertation acts as a case study for an archaeology of health care through an investigation of the ancient Egyptian village of Deir el-Medina, the home of the workmen who built the royal tombs during the New Kingdom (1550 BCE-1080 BCE). I ii use an interdisciplinary approach that combines texts from the site with osteological data from the villagers’ skeletal remains in order to document both the major stresses on health at the site and Deir el-Medina’s health care networks. I accomplish this through a bioarchaeological analysis of health using the systemic stress model. Comparisons between Deir el-Medina and other sites in Egypt as well as broader sites in the Western Hemisphere Project show that health was relatively high at Deir el-Medina, but that infectious disease and occupational stress were primary factors impacting the villagers’ health. The villagers at Deir el-Medina utilized a complex health care system in order to respond to these stresses. The ancient Egyptian government provided rations for medical professionals and subsidized sick leave for the workmen. These medical professionals would have used a logic of contamination to explain the transmission of disease and treat illnesses. In conjunction with this, personal networks involving reciprocal caretaking between colleagues and close family members ensured the sick had provisions and nursing. This research offers evidence for one of the world’s oldest documented health care systems. It demonstrates how illnesses were perceived and treated in ancient Egypt, and finally, it offers a model for an archaeology of health care. iii The dissertation of Anne Eliese Austin is approved. Kathlyn M. Cooney John K. Papadopoulos Gail E. Kennedy Jerome C. Rose Willemina Z. Wendrich, Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2014 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Research Problem ...............................................................................................................1 1.2 Research Purpose ...............................................................................................................3 1.3 Historical Context and Suitability of Deir el-Medina for a Study on Health .........4 1.4 Scope and Limitations of this Study ..............................................................................7 1.5 Disciplinary Context and Research Significance .........................................................8 1.6 Dissertation Organization ............................................................................................. 11 1.7 Notes on Translation ...................................................................................................... 14 2 A Theoretical Framework for Accessing Health in the Past .......................................... 17 2.1 Defining Health ................................................................................................................ 18 2.2 Theoretical Models of Health and Health Care ......................................................... 19 2.3 Models of Health Care .................................................................................................... 22 2.4 Identifying Health and Health Care in Archaeology ................................................ 26 2.5 Identifying Health in Bioarchaeology .......................................................................... 28 2.6 Health and the Systemic Stress Model in Bioarchaeology ...................................... 29 2.7 Linking Biological and Social Models of Health at Deir el-medina ....................... 33 3 The Ancient Egyptian Medical System................................................................................ 36 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 36 3.2 Previous Research on the Egyptian Theory of Disease Transmission ................. 37 3.3 Materials ............................................................................................................................ 38 3.3.1 The Oracular Amuletic Decrees ............................................................................ 39 3.3.2 The Medical Papyri .................................................................................................. 41 v 3.4 Causative Disease Agents in the Oracular Amuletic Decrees ................................ 42 3.4.1 Deities ......................................................................................................................... 43 3.4.2 Demons ...................................................................................................................... 46 3.4.3 Foreign Magicians .................................................................................................... 49 3.4.4 Poisonous Animals .................................................................................................. 50 3.4.5 The Spirits of the Dead ........................................................................................... 51 3.4.6 Internal Corruption ................................................................................................. 52 3.5 Contamination: A Logic to Disease in Ancient Egypt .............................................. 54 3.6 Ancient Egyptian Medicine as a Response to Contamination ............................... 56 3.6.1 Defining Medicine .................................................................................................... 56 3.6.2 The Medical Process ................................................................................................ 59 3.7 Medical Texts from Deir el-Medina ............................................................................. 66 3.7.1 Medical Handbooks at Deir el-Medina ................................................................ 67 3.7.2 Medical Ostraca ........................................................................................................ 69 3.7.3 Illnesses attested at Deir el-Medina ..................................................................... 73 3.7.4 Amulets at Deir el-Medina ..................................................................................... 75 3.8 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 79 4 Health Care Networks at Deir el-Medina ............................................................................ 81 4.1 Professional, Folk, and Popular Care Sectors at Deir el-Medina ........................... 82 4.2 Professional and Folk Medical Practitioners ............................................................. 83 4.2.1 Swnw ........................................................................................................................... 84 4.2.2 Texts referencing the swnw at Deir el-Medina .................................................... 86 4.2.3 State and Private Payments to the swnw .............................................................. 87 vi 4.2.4 Duration of Services by the swnw .......................................................................... 90 4.2.5 Patients of the swnw ................................................................................................. 92 4.2.6 Individuals Identified as the swnw at Deir el-Medina ....................................... 92 4.3 The Scorpion Charmer ................................................................................................... 93 4.3.1 Texts with the Title of the Scorpion Charmer ................................................... 94 4.3.2 Payment of the Scorpion Charmer ....................................................................... 95 4.3.3 Responsibilities of the Scorpion Charmer ......................................................... 96 4.4 The Wise