NOTES
908
References COONEY,G. & E. GROGAN.1994. Irish prehistory: a social perspective. Dublin: Wordwell. EOGAN,G. 1991. Prehistoric and early historic cultural changes at Brugh na Bbinne, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 91C: 105-32. FRY,M.F. 1995. Communicating by logboat: past necessity and present opportunity in the North of Ireland, Irish Studies Review 1 2 : 11-16. GREGORY, N. 1998. The Lurgaii dugout boat: work in progress - delays expected, Archaeology Ireland 1 3 ( 2 ) : 30-32. HhLE,J.R. 1980.Plankbuilt in the Bronze Age, Antiquity54: 118-27. LANTING,J. & A . BRINDLEY.1996. Irish logboats and their Euro-
pean context, Journal of Irish Archaeology 7: 85-9. S. 1978. Logboats of England and Wales with comMCGRAIL, parative material from Europe and other countries. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 51. 1987. Ancient boats in NW Europe: the archaeology of water transport to A D 1500. London: Longman. 1995. Celtic seafaring and transport, in M.J. Green (ed.), The Celtic world: 254-81. London: Routledge. K. 1980. Two bronze age cargoes in British waMUCKELROY, ters, Antiquity 54: 100-109. WADDELL, J. 1978. The invasion hypothesis in Irish prehistory, Antiquity 52: 121-8.
Cimex Iectularius L., the common bed bug from Pharaonic Egypt EVA PANAGIOTAKOPULU & PAUL c. BUCKLAND” Bed bugs have been troubling humans for at least 3550 years, U S shown b y examples from Tell el-Amama. Here we reporf on the bug’s habits and history, as revealed b y urchueology. Key-words: insect, Egypt, bed bug, Tell el-Amarna
Introduction The desiccating conditions of the edge of the Egyptian desert provide excellent media for the preservation of biological materials. The vertebrate and plant remains from tombs are well known (Boessneck 1988; Hepper 1990). More recently, detailed palaeoecological research has been extended to occupation sites, and the work directed by Barry Kemp on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Society at Tell el-Amarna, 270 km south of Cairo, has provided material for the examination not only of animal bone and plant macrofossils (Kemp etal. 1994),but also of insect remains. The city was founded by Akhenaten (1352-1336 BC), and the so-called Workmen’s village, from which samples for insect analysis
were obtained, probably housed the tomb workers and possibly later, during Tut’ankhamun’s reign, a contingent of guards. The site was perhaps occupied for 20-25 years, from the 4th regnal year of Akhenaten through the reigns of Smenkhare and Tut’ankhamun, c. 1350-1323 BC (Kemp 1984). As well as the human flea, Pulex irritans L., and numerous pests of stored products, well-preserved specimens of Cimex, the genus which includes the bed bug were also recovered (FIGURE I). Although separation of C. lectularius L., the bed bug, from C. columbarius Jenyns, the pigeon bug, is difficult on the fossil material, the latter is not recorded from Africa (Usinger 19661, and the archaeological context and associated fauna also
* Panagiotakopulu, School of Geography & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham ~ 1 ~ 5T T , England. Buckland, Department of Archaeology & Prehistory, University of Sheffield, Sheffield s10 ZTN, England. Received 30 March 1999, revised 1 May 1999, accepted 18 June 1999, revised 13 August 1999
ANTIQIJITY 7 3 (1999): 908-11
NOTES
909
FIGURE1. The bed bug, Cimex lectularius L. from the Workmen’s Village, Amama, Egypt. a ventral surface. b Dorsal surface. (Photos E. Panagiotakopulu.)
supports identification as bed bugs. The Amarna specimens provide the earliest record of an association between man and this ectoparasite.
The bed bug Cimex lectularius L. (Hemiptera, Cimicidae), the common bed bug, is a now cosmopolitan ectoparasite, which feeds upon the blood of humans. It spends the day hiding in cracks and crevices in rooms and furniture, and emerges by night to feed (Ghauri 1973). The species has also been recorded feeding upon the blood of bats, chickens and rabbits (Noble &Noble1976). Whilst the Amarna specimens confirm the Old World origins of the species, its presence in the Mediterranean region by the Classical period is already noted by writers such as Aristophanes (Clouds 634 cf. 710-42; Plutus 541; Frogs 439), Aristotle (Historia Animalium 556b21ff), Pliny (Natural History XXIX.61, XxvII.80, XXXII.124,136, XXIX.58, XXIX.62), and Dioscorides (De Materia Medica 11.34).According to Strouhal(1995),it is mentioned also in a 3rd-century BC Egyptian papyrus. Surprisingly it was believed that the ectoparasite had
medicinal properties, and it was used ground together with other substances against a variety of diseases (Pliny Natural HistoryXXIX.61,62,63; Dioscorides De Materia Medica 11.34;11.113,125). Experiments have shown that C. lectularius is capable of transmitting diseases including, for example, Hepatitis B (Silvermann et al. 1998), but there is no satisfactory evidence to prove it is a vector of disease under normal conditions. However, iron deficiency in heavily infested infants has been noted in India (Venkatachalam & Belavadi 1962),and the bites themselves may cause some distress to otherwise healthy individuals.
The spread of the bed bug Although now essentially world-wide in distribution, in the Tropics C. lectularius is replaced by C. hemipterus (F.) as a human ectoparasite, and the latter is distributed throughout the Orient. Omori (1939) has shown that a reproductive barrier exists between the two species, resulting in the death of the females of C. lectularius when mated with the tropical species. However this does not explain the apparent rarity of C. lectularius in the northern part
910
NOTES
of its range until the post-medieval period. Both Usinger (1966) and Cloudsley-Thompson (1976) refer to Moufet (1634) as providing the earliest record from the British Isles in 1583. The date 1503, which both Southwood & Leston (1959) and Busvine (1976) have, according to Usinger (1966) derives from a misprint in Matheson (1941). Busvine (1976), however, also records a perhaps apocryphal story of King John (11991216) being troubled by bed bugs at Kingsclere in Hampshire. The fossil record provides a few more examples from England, and these have been discussed by Kenward & Allison (1994). They suggest an association with the warmer habitats provided by heated stone buildings, and this would account for the specimen of Cimex sp. from a 2nd-century AD pit in the Roman town at Alcester in Warwickshire (Osborne 1972). Whilst Osborne is right to be cautious in not ascribing this single pronotum to C. lectularius, rather than the pigeon bug C. columbarius, the large number of other synanthropic insects in the Alcester pit supports the probability of the presence of bed bugs in Roman Britain. Kenward & Allison's (1994) other records are from 10th- and 11th-century deposits in Norwich and York, where an association with substantial stone buildings is perhaps less likely. There seems no doubt that the parasite extended its distribution through the post-medieval period, and there are further fossil records from 18th-century London (Girling 1984), early modern York (Hall et al. 1993) and Sheffield (R. Buckland, unpub.). Whilst Kenward & Allison (1994) are undoubtedly correct in their comments upon the taphonomic: problems of samples - dry, stone buildings in Britain are unlikely to yield suitably anaerobic sediments for fossil insect analysis - and that archaeological entomology is a relatively new and under-utilized discipline, Busvine (1980) notes that C. lectularius fails to breed at temperatures below 13"c, and it is tempting to relate its postmedieval expansion to increased urbanization and the improvement in housing quality since the late 16th century. Shrewsbury (1964) proReferences ARISI'OPHANES.11924.1 Clouds (transl. B.B. Rogers). London: Heinemann. Loeb Text Vol. I. 11924.1Frogs (transl. B.B. Rogers). London: Heinemann. Loeh Text Vol. 11. 11972.1Plutus (transl. B.B. Rogers).London: Heinemann. Loeh Text Vol. 111.
vides a useful anecdote which would support this interpretation. In the mid 18th century, in the parish of Penny in the Mid-Lothian Coalfield, Scotland, houses heated with coal were infested with bed bugs, whilst those relying on the traditional peat fires were free of them. The additional warmth provided by coal was sufficient to encourage the bugs to breed. As warm housing was largely a preserve of the rich into the post-medieval period, Cimex lectularius represents one of those benefits which have been cascaded down through society. Several authors (e.g.Usinger & Povolny 1966) have suggested that the primary hosts of the bed bug, like that of several other species of Cimex, were probably bats. The close similarity between C. lectularius and C. columbarius led Southwood and Leston (1959) to regard the latter as a subspecies of C. lectularius, a pattern followed by Kenward & Allison (1994). Usinger (1966), however, has raised the pigeon bug to specific rank. Although Kenward & Allison (1994) speculate on the origin of the bed bug from pigeon lofts, its early presence in Egypt away from the modern distribution of the pigeon bug makes it appear more likely that the adaptation to bird blood has gone the other way; C. lectularius also occasionally occurs on another bird closely associated with humans, the chicken. Conclusion Since the primary hosts of the bed bug are likely to have been bats, it is probable that it acquired its taste for human blood from people living in caves. As the bug is flightless, dispersal in human clothing, bedding and furnishings is much more likely than an occasional phoretic or chance event associated with another host. The Amarna evidence shows that the association with man goes back at least 3500 years. Acknowledgements. This research was funded by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust (UK). We thank the Egypt Exploration Society, Barry Kemp a n d Delwen Samuels for access to the material i n Amarna, a n d Kevin Edwards a n d Ton Sadler for their comments.
ARISTOTLE[1910.]Historia Animalium (transl. J. Smith & W. Ross). Oxford: Oxford University Press. BOESSNECK,J. 1988. Die Eerwelt des alten Agypten. Munich:
C.H. Beck. BUSVINE,J.R.. 1976. Insects, hygiene andhistoy. London: Athlone Press.
NOTES 1980. Insects and hygiene. 'The biology and control of insect pests of medical a nd domestic importance,. 3rd edition. London: Chapman & Hall. CLO~JDSLEY-THOMPSON, J.L. 1976. Insects and history. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. DIOSCORIDES. [1968.] The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides. London: Hafner Publishing. GHAURI,M.S.K. 1973. Hemiptera(bugs1, in K.G.V. Smith(ed.)., Insects and other arthropods of medical importance.: 37394. London: British Museum (NHI. GIRLING, M.A. 1984. Eighteenth century records of human lice [Pthiraptera, Anoplura) and fleas (Siphonaptera, Pulicidae) in the City of London, Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 120: 207-10. HALL,A.R., H.K. KENWARD& A. ROBERTSON.1993. Investigation of medieval a n d post-medieval plant ond invertebrate remains from Area X of the excavations in the Bedern [south-west), York(YAT/Yorkshire Museum sitecode 197381 . I 3 XI.London: Ancient Monuments Laboratory. Report 56/93. HEPPER,F.N. 1990. Pharaoh's flowers. The botanical treasures of Tutankhamun. London: HMSO. KEMP, B.J. 1984. Amorna Reports. I. London: Egypt Exploration Society. KEMP,B.J., D. SAMUEL & R. LUFF. 1994. Food for an Egyptian City: Tell el-Amarna, in R. Luff & P. Rowley-Conwy (ed.), Whither En vironniental Archaeology? 1 33--70. Oxford: Oxhow. Monograph 38. KENWARD, H.K. & E.P. ALLISON. 1994. Rural origins of the urban insect fauna, in A.R. Hall & H.K. Kenward (ed.), Urban-rural connexions: perpectives from environmental archaeology: 55-78. Oxford: Oxbow. Monograph 47. C. 1941. The distribution of Cimex lectulorjus in MATHESDN, towns in England and Wales, Bulletin ofEiitomologica1 Research 32: 165-71. MouFE'I', T. 1634. Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum. London: Thomas Cotes.
911 NOBLE,E.R. & G.A. NOBLE.1976. Parasitology. The biology of animal parasites. 4th edition. Philadelphia (PA): Lea & Febiger. OMOKI,N. 1939. Experimental studies on the cohabitation of and crossing of two species of bed bug (Cimex lectularius L. and C. hemipterus F.) and on the effects of interchanging males of one species for the other, every alternate day, upon the fecundity and longevity of females of each species, Acta Japonica medicinae tropjcae [Taihoku) 1: 1 2 7-54. OSBORNE,P.J. 1971. An insect fauna from the Roman site at Alcester, Warwickshire. Britannia 2: 156-65. PLINY.[1956.] Natriral History 7. (transl. W.H.S. Jones). London: Heinemann. Loeb Text. [1963.] Natural History 8. (transl. W.H.S. Jones). London: Heinemann. Loeb Text. SHREWSBURY, J.F.D.1964. The plague of thephilistines and other medico-historical essays. London: Victor Gollancz. SILVERMAN, A.L., J.A. BLOW, L.H. QLJ,I.M. ZITRON, E.D. WALKER & S.C. GORDON.1998. Persistence of the hepatitis B viral genome in the common bedbug (Cimex lectularius L.) and evidence for viral shedding in excrement, Hepatology 28: 619. SOUTHWOOD, T.R.E. & D. LESTON.1959. Land a nd water bugs of the British Isles. London: Warne & Sons. STROUHAL, E. 1995. Life in Ancient Egypt. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ITSINGER, R.L. 1996. Monograph of Cimicidae (HemipteraHeteroptera). Baltimore (MD): Thomas Say Foundation. Baltimore Entomological Society. USINCER, R.L. & D. POVOLNY. 1966. The discovery of a possibly aboriginal population of the bedbug (Cimex lectularius Linnaeus, 1758), Acta Musei Moroviae 51: 237-42. 1962. Loss of haemoglobin VENKAI'ACHALAM, P.S. & B. BELAVADI. iron due to excessive biting by bed-bugs, Transactiona of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine a nd Hygiene 56: 2 18-21.
Pubic lice (PfhiruspubisL.) were present in Roman and Medieval Britain HARRYKENWARD" A s methods of retrieval become ever better, and analysis more refined, the horrid vermin of human occupation are identified and mapped. Recent analyses of deposits from Carlisle provide data on pubic lice. Key-words: insect remains, lice, Britain, Roman, medieval, Carlisle
Studies of insect remains preserved in archaeological deposits are providing a wide range of information about past human economy, resource exploitation, diet, activity and living conditions. Recent work is exemplified by Buckland et al. (1994; 1996),Dobney et al. (1998),Hall &
Kenward (1990), Kenward & Hall (1995) and Robinson (1991). A remarkable aspect of these investigations has been the discovery of abundant remains of insect parasites of humans. There are numerous European archaeological records of the human flea (Pulex irritans L.)
* Environmental Archaeology Unit (EAU), Department of Biology, University of York, PO Box 373, York ~ 0 1 0~ England.
[email protected] Received 16 August 1999, accepted 26 August 1999, revised 3 September 1999. ANTJQTJITY 73 (1999): 911-15
Y W ,
