RAS question
At Balathal, evidence of the world's oldest case of which disease was found in a 4,000-year-old skeleton?
Correct answer: (C) Leprosy.
The 4,000-year-old skeleton from Balathal in Rajasthan provides the world's oldest documented skeletal evidence of leprosy.
Explanation
Balathal, in present-day Rajasthan near Udaipur, yielded a Chalcolithic skeleton dated to about 2000 B.C. The published PLOS ONE study analysed pathological changes in the remains and used differential diagnosis against conditions including tuberculosis and other infections. Its conclusion was that lepromatous leprosy was present in India by 2000 B.C., making the Balathal specimen the oldest documented skeletal evidence for the disease. This fits the MCQ's wording closely: the key is not simply that a disease was found at Balathal, but that the evidence came from a very old skeleton and was recognised as the earliest confirmed skeletal case of leprosy. The site was discovered by V.N. Misra in 1962-63.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Smallpox is not the answer because the question turns on skeletal evidence, and smallpox does not leave such skeletal evidence.
- (B) Tuberculosis is wrong because the Balathal study considered it in differential diagnosis but concluded that the skeleton showed lepromatous leprosy.
- (D) Malaria is wrong because it cannot be detected from skeletal remains, while the Balathal finding was based on skeletal pathology.
Concept
This tests the archaeology and cultural-history segment of Rajasthan History, especially how excavation evidence from sites such as Balathal changes what can be said about early disease history. It recurs in RAS because a local site is linked to a globally significant, source-backed finding.