A History of Paleopathology in Spain

This chapter discusses the history of paleopathology in Spain. Several authors have divided the development of paleopathology as a discipline into distinct historical phases. However, these broad periodizations apply to the development of the discipline in the Canary Islands more than Spain. In fact, with the exception of the Canaries, paleopathology was nearly an unknown discipline in Spain until the last third of the twentieth century. Prior to the 1970s paleopathology was virtually absent, and even physicians did not know of its existence.