Skeletal dysplasias in art and antiquities: A cultural journey through genes, environment, and chance

People with skeletal dysplasias have left traces in art and antiquities through ages and cultures worldwide, in Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, Sub‐Saharan Africa, Asia, and Europe. Such traces record the impact of people with skeletal dysplasia on society and culture—in daily life, religion, and m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of medical genetics. Part C, Seminars in medical genetics Seminars in medical genetics, 2021-06, Vol.187 (2), p.199-212
Main Author: Botto, Lorenzo D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
antiquities
Bone dysplasia
chondrodysplasia
Chondrodystrophy
Culture
dwarfism
Dysplasia
Egyptian civilization
Genetics
Historic artifacts
skeletal dysplasia
Skeleton
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Summary:People with skeletal dysplasias have left traces in art and antiquities through ages and cultures worldwide, in Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, Sub‐Saharan Africa, Asia, and Europe. Such traces record the impact of people with skeletal dysplasia on society and culture—in daily life, religion, and mythology. However, identifying (“diagnosing”) skeletal dysplasia in artifacts and interpreting what such depictions meant within the culture in which they were created is extremely challenging and at times impossible. The objectives of this short and necessarily selective survey are to present a few examples of art through different ages and cultures as a springboard for discussion not only on potential medical diagnoses but also on the lives of people with chondrodysplasia and how they were valued in the society in which they lived. The artifacts were selected from Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, Mesoamerica (Maya), Sub‐Saharan Africa (Kingdom of Benin), Tang China, and 17th Century Europe. In some cases, surviving artifacts with likely depictions of skeletal dysplasia are few and their cultural context incompletely understood. Nevertheless, certain themes and attitudes seem to repeat across different times and regions, though some cultures, such as those in Ancient Egypt, appeared to have had a comparatively positive view of people with restricted growth and chondrodysplasia.
ISSN:1552-4868
1552-4876
DOI:10.1002/ajmg.c.31908