Over the past few years, bioarchaeological research in combination with genetic as well as contextual evidence has been challenging the misconception that cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a problem of modern life and living conditions (Thompson et al., 2013; Binder & Roberts, 2014; and chapters in this volume). However, the evidence for CVDs in the past has so far been largely confined to mummified human remains. The preservation of their soft tissues maintains the pathological evidence linked to CVD, including calcifications, in its original location within the blood vessels in which they developed.

The Papyrus Ebers, written in ancient Egypt in c. 1550 BCE, provides the earliest known historic medical description of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), likely attesting to the widespread occurrence of these conditions (Nunn, 1996: 85–7). However, evidence to prove that they were indeed a frequent health problem in antiquity remains scarce and confined to mummified remains despite the multitude of human remains discovered and analysed since the beginning of archaeological exploration of the Nile Valley (Davies & Walker, 1993; Binder 2019).

In February 2010, I was crouching down in a subterranean tomb chamber at the archaeological site of Amara West in modern Sudan, excavating the human skeletal remains of people that had lived some 3000 years ago. Suddenly, I came across fragile tubular objects made of a whitish substance arranged almost like a string of beads parallel to the femur of a middle-aged woman (Figure 1.1). The unassuming little tubes were carefully collected, wrapped in scraps of acid-free tissue paper, packed in cardboard boxes used for Sudanese matches and labelled ‘calcified arteries?’. Together with the excavated skeletal remains, they were later – courtesy of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums of Sudan – shipped to the British Museum in London for further scientific analysis within the framework of my PhD research at Durham University under the supervision of Charlotte A. Roberts, the co-editor with myself of this book.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally, accounting for around one-third of all deaths overall in 2019 (17.9 million; World Health Organization, 2021). Since then, we have also learnt that there are worse outcomes for people with underlying CVD comorbidities who contract COVID-19: they have an increased risk of death (Nishiga et al., 2020). CVDs are still challenging to manage in populations worldwide, and their continuing presence resonates with many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, not least good health and well-being.