Tumor and Teeth in Late Roman Spain

Archaeologists excavating a Spanish necropolis discovered a calcified tumor with a bone and four teeth in the pelvis of a late Roman woman. This is the first time that archaeologists have come across the bizarre cancer in the ancient world. Known as ovarian teratoma, the tumor can form human eggs from germ cells to create hair, teeth and bone. This 1600-year-old tumor appears to have been benign, and may not have caused the death of the 30-something year-old woman, who was part of a lower economic class during a period when a fragmented Spain was divided between the Vandals, Suevi and Alans as the Roman Empire collapsed.

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