“I first came upon the skeleton at Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute as part of the analysis of the skeletal material in 2001-2002. Veena Mushrif and I examined the skeletal collection from Balathal. Upon publishing the site report, we went back and began working on a paper about the pathological conditions,” says Gwen Robbins who conducted a differential diagnosis of the remains to distinguish between several diseases that can produce similar changes to bone. “Bone has a limited set of responses to disease. Syphilis, maxillary sinus infection, and other problems can cause similar changes to the skull. However, syphilis should also be associated with something called caries sicca (lesions on the surface of the skull) and neither should cause the nasal spine to be eaten away. The nasal spine is a small piece of bone in the center of the lower margin of the nose. When it is eroded away, that is characteristic of leprosy,” Robbins explains how the leprosy conclusion was arrived at.

The 4,000-year-old middle-aged adult male skeleton belongs to the Ahar Chalcolithic culture, which flourished at the same time as the Harappans. According to Vasant Shinde, joint director, Deccan College, who is part of the research team, the period saw the growth of the first farming community in Mewar and is characterised by the presence of Black-and-Red pottery, mud, mud-brick and stone structures, and the use of copper.

“We do not know the mode of disposal of the dead by the Ahar Chalcolithic people as no evidence is found of this either in the habitation or away from the habitation. A few Chalcolithic sites in the Mewar region, like Ahar, Gilund and Balathal, have been excavated and none of them has yielded evidence of the burial custom. We have found a couple of human skeletons in the habitation at Balathal. One of the skeletons was subjected to detailed studies and has revealed that the person died due the leprosy,” he said.

... contd.