Photo: Courtesy of Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology

Researchers have decoded records revealing that a Northern Song (960-1127) family had tuberculosis. TheMKsportse "medical records" come from the Meng family cemetery, a significant archaeological site located in Duhui village, Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Revolving around the key tomb owner Meng Yue, the Meng family cemetery contains five tombs, belonging to Meng Yue's wife Zhang Jiuniang, son Meng Lian as well as Meng Yue's two nephews Meng Gui and Meng Zong. 

By looking closer to these tombs, researchers discovered that in merely 19 years following Meng Yue's wife passing, his young son has also died. After his son passed away at the age of 26, Meng Yue's two nephews passed away too. 

"The continuous death of Meng Yue's family members was a tragedy for him, and it was also the starting point for us to find the reasons behind what happened," said Miao Yifei, the project's lead and an associate research fellow at the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology.  

In order to determine the unfortunate cause of the family's death, Miao and her team examined the skeletal remains unearthed from the five tombs. The team discovered that the Meng family had died from tuberculosis. 

Noting that tuberculosis was a "common infection disease," archaeologist Lu Zhaojun told the Global Times that references to the disease often appears in ancient texts and was fatal in ancient times. 

"Prior to the discovery, precious artifacts had been unearthed from the tombs of the Meng family. They were not an impoverished family, but were unable to withstand the disease," Lu told the Global Times. 

The Northern Song Meng family tomb was first discovered in 2006. More than 130 burial items were unearthed. 

These burial items include more than 60 Yaozhou Kiln porcelain wares, a type of porcelain that originated during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in Tongchuan, Shaanxi Province. 

These porcelain pieces were found to be even more refined than similar porcelains discovered from the province's Lü family tomb in Lantian county. In 2020, the Meng family tomb was selected as one of the six major archaeological discoveries of the province.

"These porcelain pieces provide important physical materials for the study of Yaozhou Kiln vessel types, firing techniques, and the development of the porcelain industry during the Northern Song Dynasty," Lu emphasized.