Human lice: Pediculus and Pthirus

Abstract

Lice have probably been associated with humans since the times of our pre-hominid ancestors, and were dispersed throughout the world by early human migrants. It has been suggested that the head louse is the ancestor of the human louse, and that the body louse developed later when hominids started to wear clothing. Lice are mentioned in the Bible as the third plague. From Sumerian, Akkadian, and Egyptian sources it is also evident that the ancient inhabitants of the Middle East were well acquainted with head lice. Head lice and eggs have been found on the hair of Egyptian mummies. Nine-thousand-year-old louse eggs were found in hair samples from an individual who lived in a cave near the Dead Sea in Israel, while large numbers of lice were recovered from a 3,800-year-old female mummy from the Loulan period. Louse combs from Pharonic times in Egypt were used for delousing. Head lice and their eggs have also been found in combs recovered from archaeological excavations in the Judean and Negev deserts of Israel, including from Masada and Qumran. Body lice eggs have been found in pre-historic textiles from Austria; this louse was also recovered from deposits of farmers in Viking Greenland. The remains of a body louse were also found in one of the rooms at the Masada fortress dating from the Roman period. The oldest known pubic lice are from the Roman period in Britain and from post-medieval deposits in Iceland. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.