That's really interesting, thanks for sharing that. I always assumed that before modern medicine identified cancer, people thought that they were dying of other diseases & what not when in reality they had cancer. Is there any way that scientists can figure out if people from centuries ago died from cancer (excluding bone cancer)?
It is all a very vague science to try to look back in time. Centuries is not that long ago, and one can try to assume that remote indigenous populations are still similar. Lets assume we are talking thousands if not tens of thousands of years ago. There are a lot of things that scientists can try to interpret from skeletal and other bone remains, only some of them that would be a direct link to cancer. This is a good overview of some of the science that goes on for that in a context that is relevant to the discussion at hand: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/03/paleopathology...
Personally I am convinced that cancer is just one of many degenerative health issues. If you follow that line of reasoning, than the frequency of degenerative issues in skeletal remains are likely related to the frequency of cancer and any other degenerative health issue. As one example, if you simply see caries (cavities) in the remains of the teeth, that would also mean cancer was more likely to occur. (very healthy indigenous cultures have almost no cavities). Obviously this is very loose logic, and certain groups are more likely to have certain issues that are more or less likely to show up in skeletal remains, but I believe the general principle is sound.
