Recent studies of louse ectoparasites from mummies have developed robust data sets that allow a true epidemiological approach to the prehistory of louse parasitism. One epidemiological principle is that the binomial of overdispersion is normally negative, meaning that in a host population, parasites are aggregated in a few individuals. We demonstrate the overdispersion of lice in 3 different prehistoric communities that differ along 3 axes or variables: environmental setting, socioeconomic status, and cultural affiliation. Distinct cultural practices could have been involved in different patterns of louse infestation. Prevalence, intensity, and abundance of infestations exhibit statistically significant differences between the communities. We also find differences in prevalence between subadults and adults that contrasted by cultural affiliation and suggest conditions different from those seen today. We show that overall prevalence was affected primarily by ecological setting, not socioeconomic status nor cultural affiliation. These findings demonstrate that statistical analysis of archaeological data can reveal the states of infestation in past populations with lifestyles not seen in modern people. Our approach paves the way for future comparisons of subpopulations within archaeological communities.

最近对木乃伊虱子体外寄生虫的研究已经开发出可靠的数据集，可以对虱子寄生的史前史进行真正的流行病学研究。一个流行病学原理是，过度分散的二项式通常为负，这意味着在宿主群体中，寄生虫聚集在少数个体中。我们证明了虱子在 3 个不同的史前社区中的过度分散，这些社区在 3 个轴或变量上有所不同：环境设置、社会经济地位和文化归属。不同的文化习俗可能与不同的虱子感染模式有关。社区之间侵扰的流行率、强度和丰度表现出统计上的显着差异。我们还发现亚成人和成人之间的患病率存在​​差异，这与文化背景形成鲜明对比，并表明情况与今天所看到的不同。我们表明，总体患病率主要受到生态环境的影响，而不是社会经济地位或文化归属。这些发现表明，对考古数据的统计分析可以揭示过去人群中的感染状况，而这些生活方式在现代人中是看不到的。我们的方法为未来考古社区内亚群的比较铺平了道路。