A team from a Spanish university . has discovered what Egyptian authorities are calling the . world 's oldest evidence of breast cancer in the 4,200-year-old . skeleton of an adult woman . Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty said the bones of the . woman , who lived at the end of the 6th Pharaonic Dynasty , showed . 'an extraordinary deterioration ' . 'The study of her remains shows the typical destructive . damage provoked by the extension of a breast cancer as a. metastasis , ' he said in a statement on Tuesday . Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty said the bones of the woman , who lived at the end of the 6th Pharaonic Dynasty , showed'an extraordinary deterioration ' . According to the World Health Organisation 's cancer research agency , new cancer cases rose to an estimated 14 million a year in 2012 , a figure seen rising to 22 million within 20 years . Despite being one of the world 's leading causes of death . today , cancer is virtually absent in archaeological records . compared to other diseases - which has given rise to the idea . that cancers are mainly attributable to modern lifestyles and to . people living for longer . 'The team from University of Jaen has confirmed that the woman lived at the end of the 6th Dynasty ( 2200 BCE ) and was part of the élite of the southernmost town of Egypt , Elephantine , ' the statement said . 'The virulence of the disease impeded her to carry out any kind of labor , but she was treated and taken care during a long period until her death . ' The University of Jaen began the archaeological excavations in Qubbet el-Hawa in 2008 and their major goal is to reconstruct the life and funerary rituals of the governors of Elephantine and their families who lived between 2250 and 1750 BCE . The anthropological team from the University of Jaen saidthe Egyptian woman was an aristocrat from Elephantine , the country 's southernmost town . But the finding , along with evidence reported last year by . British researchers of metastatic cancer in a 3,000-year-old . skeleton found in a tomb in modern Sudan , suggests cancer was . around in the Nile Valley in ancient times . The anthropological team from the University of Jaen said . the Egyptian woman was an aristocrat from Elephantine , the . country 's southernmost town . Her remains were discovered in the necropolis of Qubbet . el-Hawa , west of the southern city of Aswan , the ministry said . According to the World Health Organisation 's cancer research . agency , new cancer cases rose to an estimated 14 million a year . in 2012 , a figure seen rising to 22 million within 20 years . The anthropological team from the University of Jaen said the Egyptian woman was an aristocrat from Elephantine , the country 's southernmost town ( pictured ) Other analysis - including examination of the last food found in the stomachs of three horses buried in her tomb - allowed Dr Polesmak to formulate an intriguing account of this woman 's final months alive . Last year a unique MRI scan on a 2,500 year old mummified Siberian 'princess ' has revealed she died after suffering from acute breast cancer . Preserved in ice in an elaborate grave in the Altai Mountains , the ancient woman - famous for her remarkable tattoos - took cannabis to dull the ravages of her illnesses , experts have also discovered . Dug from her permafrost burial chamber on the high Ukok Plateau in 1993 , analysis of her remains earlier highlighted sophisticated tattoos of 'great artistry ' of fantastical creatures , while in her tomb was also found clothing and headdresses , a make-up bag , and a stash of cannabis , enabling experts to build a detailed picture of her life and looks . Separately from the MRI , academics also conclude she was a virgin who lived a deliberately 'celibate ' life .
Woman was an aristocrat from Elephantine , country 's most southern town . She lived at the end of the 6th Pharaonic Dynasty . Researchers say the disease showed 'an extraordinary deterioration '