Given how fond the Egyptian royalty were of their incestuous lifestyles, it is rather surprising that their tombs still did not end up being the go-to reference for all kinds of nasty genetic deviations. On the other hand, this note does not mention that the woman came from any sort of noble family, and the ordinary people of Egypt presumably did not engage in inbreeding to the same degree, their bloodlines being of no importance.
It is important to note that many mummies were ground up and either eaten or turned into pigment ("mummy brown"). There is an interesting video I saw recently of people mummifying a chicken according to ancient processes and eating it* [0].
>The tumor, which contained two deformed teeth and likely produced pain and swelling, appeared as a bony mass about the size of a large grape during the excavation of the woman’s pelvis.
My three-year-old had a 4-inch teratoma removed from (well, with) one ovary earlier this year. Without having any idea about the prevalence of teratomas in humans historically, I wonder: is it scarier to have symptoms and not know what it is, or to know what it is and not have the means to treat it. The fact that it's real and not just a tearout from a Junji Ito story is frightening enough in modern times.
Thanks. She's doing much better since the surgery thankfully. Getting through the roughest parts (after the surreal part) help to make us stronger and all that.
Teratomas can contain any type of human tissue. E.g. a woman can get prostate cancer if they have a teratoma that contains prostate tissue, and that prostate tissue becomes malignant.
