Unilateral cholesteatoma in the first millennium BC.

Objective: To analyze the bone lesions of the ear region from a late Bronze Age individual to establish the most probable diagnosis.

Background: There has been evidence of diseases of the ear region since way back in history, but few human remains have been recognized. The case presented here corresponds to an ear lesion from a prehistoric skeleton found in the archeological site of La Cova des Pas (900-800 cal yr BC), located on Minorca island, in the western Mediterranean.