Scary Facts About Ancient Egyptian Scribes’ Bodies Revealed

CAIRO – A recent study looking at the skeletal remains of an expert Ancient Egyptian Torah buried at Abusir between 2700 and 2180 BC, sitting and working with technology like this has been damaging our bodies for thousands of years.

By examining the skeletal remains of 69 adult males – 30 scribes, identified based on the style and decoration of their tombs, plus 39 other ancient workers – the team was able to isolate about 40 statistically significant differences.

Most importantly, there is increased degeneration of the cervical vertebrae – meaning these ancient scribes probably had the same neck pain you do after a long day at the office.

“In the typical clerical working position, the head is forced to face forward, and the spine is flexed, changing the head’s center of gravity and putting pressure on the spine,” the researchers wrote as reported by IFL Science.

“When you sit like this – hunched over, with your head tilted forward to look at something horizontally in front of you – your head’s center of gravity shifts, with a stressful result: a moment of load for [vertebra leher] which is caused by the weight of the head and neck increasing 3.6 times compared to the neutral position,” the authors explained.

While the study can’t definitively prove that the clerical work was the cause of their neck bone degeneration, the findings do suggest that the modern lifestyle of sitting at a desk for hours on end, staring at a screen – may have serious long-term effects on our bodies.

So, the next time you feel a sore neck, consider getting up and taking a walk. And maybe spare a thought for the ancient Egyptian scribes, who suffered from similar back and neck pain centuries ago.

(wbs)