A study of over 100 Egyptian mummies from around the world has revealed that hardening of the arteries may have been much more common among ancient people than previously thought.

Egyptian mummy, époque ptolémaïque, IIIe – IIe siècle avant J.-C., Louvre,Département des Antiquités égyptiennes, N 2627
Source/Photographer – Dada (Own work)

Hardening of the arteries, atherosclerosis, causes heart failure and in worst case scenarios, death.  Atherosclerosis has previously been linked to current risk factors such as smoking, obesity and lack of exercise; however the findings in the study suggest that it may also be due to a more basic human disposition to the disease.  The study, being published in The Lancet, used CT scans to look for hardened arteries in 137 mummies from Egypt, Peru, southwest America and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.