Archaeologists have found what may be the earliest case of the disease, which is caused by a lack of vitamin C, in the remains of a one-year-old child discovered in Egypt, the Daily Mail reported on Friday.

The youngster is thought to have lived in a small village on the very edge of the first ancient Egyptian civilisation as it began to emerge between 5,800 and 5,600 years ago.

It is a disease more commonly associated with sailors who spent months at sea during the golden age of exploration, but new research shows scurvy has afflicted humans for thousands of years.

The discovery suggests the diet of people living at the time was poor, despite living in an area that was at the centre of the agricultural revolution.

At the time, the area was rich with fertile farmland and the ancient Egyptians are thought to be among the first people to practice agriculture on a large scale, playing a key role in the rise of the civilisation.

The youngster's remains were found on the site of an ancient village known as Nag el-Qarmila in Aswan, Egypt. It is not know what gender the child was.

The child appears to have been buried with its knees drawn up towards its chest.

Analysis of the bones, however, revealed they were unusually porous, something often seen in victims of scurvy.

The researchers said that as the child would likely to have still been breastfeeding at this age, it is possible its mother was also malnourished and so unable to provide enough vitamin C for her child.

There was also some evidence the child had suffered bleeding as a result of the disease.