WHAT WAS THE PREVALENCE OF MALIGNANT DISEASE IN THE PAST

A method is described which can be used to calculate the number of tum ours that might be expected to occur in a group of skeletons. The meth od of calculation is based on published data that relate to the freque ncy with which various primary tumours metastasize to bone and on the number of deaths from malignant disease at the turn of the century. Th e method has been applied to one archaeological site and the results i ndicate that the number of tumours found-although very small-is within the limits suggested by the model.