Paleoparasitology has emerged as a discipline situated at the intersection of anthropology, archaeology, public health and medical science. In South Korea, research on mummies over the past few decades has yielded critical insights into historical parasite infections. Parasitological analysis of intestinal contents from well-preserved Joseon-period mummies, largely representing individuals of the upper social classes, has enabled the direct identification of parasite taxa and estimation of infection prevalence in pre-modern Korea. Beyond mummies, parasitological examinations of toilet remains have enabled reconstructions of parasitic infection dynamics in pre-modern Korean society. No toilet structures have been identified from Neolithic sites in Korea, although coprolites recovered from shell middens provide key evidence for this period. With the rise of the Three Kingdoms, archaeological evidence indicates the construction and use of increasingly sophisticated toilet facilities, including cesspit and flush-type systems, which continued to develop in later historical periods. Toilets dating to the late Joseon Dynasty and the early 20th century frequently contain coprolite samples heavily infested with parasite eggs, and their detection has confirmed the presence of toilets at otherwise uncertain archaeological sites. Across both mummy and toilet contexts, commonly identified parasites include soil-transmitted helminths such as Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura, as well as food-borne trematodes, reflecting long-term interactions among sanitation practices, subsistence strategies and human health in Korea.

The article presents the results of the absolute dating of 31 pre-Columbian funerary bundles excavated on the Cerro Colorado site located in the northern part of the Peruvian Central Coast, where the Chancay culture developed in the last centuries before the Spanish invasion. The typical custom in this region was to wrap the dead with textiles and a vegetal material, by which the bundle was created. The funerary bundles of the Cerro Colorado differed in terms of the complexity, quantity and quality of the materials used (especially textiles and metal ornament). Before our project, there was not a single radiocarbon (14C) date for an undisturbed Chancay tomb, which made it impossible to understand the temporal dependency between the elaborated, standard, and modest bundles. Our results finally shed light on their proper chronological position, also demonstrating that the most elaborate bundles were created between the 13th and 15th centuries.

In medieval Korea certain burials were sealed in concrete resulting in the exceptional preservation of organic materials, including, in this case, written documents. As well as studying changes in rank and ideology, archaeologists who investigate tombs are often moved to wonder about the character of the deceased, the thoughts of the mourners and their hopes and fears on the passing of a person dear to them. In this extraordinary burial from Korea, we hear these voices directly.

The Mummy Tissue Bank at Manchester Museum provides a new resource for Egyptian research. As Dr Lambert-Zazulak explains, new techniques of analysis and the spate of new questions about ancient diseases place this initiative at the front line.