Researchers find oldest known case of cancer in 4,500-year-old remains of Siberian man

The earliest known case of cancer has been identified in the skeleton of a Siberian Bronze Age man. The 4,500-year-old bones have significant marks and holes, alerting researchers to the devastating lung or prostate cancer that the ancient man had endured. This new evidence of the illness in ancient bones demonstrates that cancer is not only a modern phenomenon, but also affected the ancient world.

The Baikal-Kokkaido Archaeological Project and research team which located the rare find was comprised of international experts, including bioarchaeologist Angela Lieverse of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, archaeologist Vladimir Bazaliiskii of Irkutsk State University in Russia, and biological anthropologist Daniel Temple, of George Mason University in the U.S., reports The Siberian Times.