Oncological diseases of the population of the Jetyasar archaeological culture during the Early Middle Ages

The visual and radiological examination of the Jetyasar anthropological collection (eastern Aral region) that consists of more than 600 burials from various cemeteries identified six cases with clear signs of metastatic cancer. This publication is intended to introduce into scientific discourse a contextual description of these pathological changes. In all cases, the paleopathological symptoms correspond to the diagnosis of multiple myeloma, which is a rather rare diagnosis today. It was earlier identified among the populations of the Migration period in the North Caucasus and Hungary. It is worth mentioning that three out of six individuals died as a result of violence rather than oncology as could have been expected given their health conditions; death was caused by combat weapons, in two cases the individuals had multiple antemortem injuries.