Archaeoparasitology of Korean mummies

Min Seo, Jong Ha Hong, Karl J. Reinhard, Dong Hoon Shin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Archaeoparasitology is now a rapidly progressing research field, providing comprehensive context about parasitism of the past and the origins and evolution of each parasite species. As in other continents, historical parasitic infection patterns in East Asia have been successfully reconstructed by archaeoparasitological research. By interdisciplinary collaboration with archaeologists, parasitologists in South Korea also have achieved meaningful academic progress in studies on various specimens uncovered at archaeological sites. Among them, coprolites of Korean mummies of the Joseon Dynasty period (1392-1910 CE) have been the most productive, due to their excellent preservation. Actually, Joseon mummies are now of central importance to parasitologists bringing to light the parasitic infection patterns of premodern Korean societies over broad temporal and geographical range. Coprolites, moreover, through ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis, further our understanding of each parasite's paleogenetics on a global perspective.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Handbook of Mummy Studies
Subtitle of host publicationNew Frontiers in Scientific and Cultural Perspectives
PublisherSpringer Nature
Pages439-459
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9789811533549
ISBN (Print)9789811533532
DOIs
StatePublished - 18 Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Ancient dna
  • Archaeoparasitology
  • Korea
  • Mummy

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