Prehistoric medicine
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Prehistoric medicine is any use of medicine from before the invention of writing and the documented history of medicine. Because the timing of the invention of writing per culture and region, the term "prehistoric medicine" encompasses a wide range of time periods and dates.[1]
The study of prehistoric medicine relies heavily on artifacts and human remains, and on anthropology. Previously uncontacted peoples and certain indigenous peoples who live in a traditional way have been the subject of anthropological studies in order to gain insight into both contemporary and ancient practices.[2]
Disease and mortality
Some diseases and ailments were more common in prehistory than they are today; there is evidence that many people suffered from osteoarthritis, probably caused by the lifting of heavy objects which would have been a daily and necessary task in their societies.[citation needed] For example, the transport of latte stones, a practice started during the neolithic era, which involved hyper extension and torque of the lower back while dragging the stones, may have contributed to the development of micro fractures in the spine and subsequent spondylolysis. Things such as cuts, bruises, and breakages of bone, without antiseptics, proper facilities, or knowledge of germs, would become very serious if infected, as they did not have sufficient ways to treat infection.[3][unreliable source?] There is also evidence of rickets, bone deformity and bone wastage (osteomalacia),[4] which is caused by a lack of vitamin D.
The life expectancy in prehistoric times was low, 25–40 years,[5] with men living longer than women; archaeological evidence of women and babies found together suggests that many women would have died in childbirth, perhaps accounting for the lower life expectancy in women than men. Another possible explanation for the shorter life spans of prehistoric humans may be malnutrition; also, men as hunters may have sometimes received better food than the woman, who would consequently have been less resistant to disease.[6]
Treatments for diseases
Plant materials
Plant materials (
The effects of different plant materials could have been found through trial and error.[15][unreliable source?] Gathering and dispensing of plant materials was in most cultures handled by women, who cared for the health of their family.[16] Plant materials were an important cure for diseases throughout history.[17] This fund of knowledge would have been passed down orally through the generations.
The
The use of earth and clays
Earths and
Surgery
The first known trepanning operation was carried out c. 5000 BCE in Ensisheim, France.[25] A possible amputation was carried out c. 4,900 BCE in Buthiers-Bulancourt, France.
Many prehistoric peoples,[
Magic and medicine men
society, as would likely have been the case in many others, the medicine men initiate a ceremony over the patient, which is attended by family and friends. It consists of magic formulas, prayers, and drumming. The medicine man then, from patients' recalling of their past and possible offenses against their religion or tribal rules, reveals the nature of the disease and how to treat it.
They were believed by the tribe to be able to contact spirits or gods and use their supernatural powers to cure the patient, and, in the process, remove evil spirits. If neither this method nor trepanning worked, the spirit was considered too powerful to be driven out of the person.[citation needed] Medicine men would likely have been central figures in the tribal system, because of their medical knowledge and because they could seemingly contact the gods. Their religious and medical training were, necessarily, passed down orally.[30]
Dentistry
The earliest example of a drilled and filled in tooth dates back to 13,000 years ago in Italy where a tooth was filled with a mix of bitumen, hair and plant fiber. [31] Archaeologists in
The problem of evidence
There is no written evidence that can be used for investigation into the prehistoric period of history by definition. Historians must use other sources such as human remains and anthropological studies of societies living under similar conditions. A variety of problems arise when the aforementioned sources are used.
Human remains from this period are rare and many have undoubtedly been destroyed by burial rituals or made useless by damage.
Not technically classed as 'written evidence', prehistoric people left many kinds of paintings, using paints made of minerals such as lime, clay and charcoal, and brushes made from feathers, animal fur, or twigs on the walls caves. Although many of these paintings are thought to have a spiritual or religious purpose,
The writings of certain cultures (such as the Romans) can be used as evidence in discovering how their contemporary prehistoric cultures practiced medicine. People who live a similar nomadic existence today have been used as a source of evidence too, but obviously, there are distinct differences in the environments in which nomadic people lived; prehistoric people who once lived in Britain for example, cannot be effectively compared to aboriginal peoples in Australia, because of the geographical differences.[40]
See also
- Anthropology
- Bush medicine
- Human fat
- Mellified Man
- Native American ethnobotany
- Paleolithic diet
- Primitive skills
- Sweat lodge
- Venus of Willendorf
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-435-30841-4.
- ^ "Traditional Medicine". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
- St Boniface's College. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- ^ "Babylon to Birmingham, A short journey through medicine to the end of the 18th Century". Revolutionary Players. History West Midlands. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
- ISBN 978-0719552656.
- ^ "Prehistoric Medicine". HealthGuidance.Org. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- ISBN 978-0-8069-6289-4.
- ^ "Aboriginal Plant Use in SE Australia". Australian Government, Australian National Botanic Gardens. Archived from the original on 2015-05-13. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
- UCLALibrary, History and Special collections. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- UCLALibrary, History and Special collections. Retrieved 2009-02-19. Mentions spices being used by some prehistoric cultures
- .
- ISBN 978-1-90391913-2.
- )
- ^ "Native American Herbal Remedies". Cherokee Messenger. Cherokee Cultural Society of Houston. 1996. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- ^ Schools History Project. "BBC - GCSE Bitesize, Prehistoric Civilisation". GCSE Bitesize. BBC.
They have done this through a process of trial and error and natural selection.
- ^ Hobbs, Christopher (6 December 2000). "Herbal Medicine: An Outline of The History of Herbalism An Overview and Literature Resource List". healthy.net. HealthWorld Online. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
... women prepared food and healing potions--women generally practiced herbalism on a day to day basis, taking care of the ills of other members of the family or tribal unit
- ^ a b c "Primitive Medicine". HistoryWorld. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
- ^ Wilford, John Noble (December 8, 1998). "Lessons in Iceman's Prehistoric Medicine Kit". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
- S2CID 43702331.
- ^ a b "Pre-Columbian Trephination". NEUROSURGERY://ON-CALL/Cyber Museum of Neurosurgery. American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Archived from the original on 2018-10-20. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- PMID 10414577. A small but informative text
- University of Illinois at Chicago. Archived from the originalon March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
In Peruvian practice there is considerable evidence that many of the operations were performed for the naturalistic purpose of removing a bone fragment ... and trephination undertaken as a supernatural curative procedure by shamans (sancoyoc) with little technical ability as surgeons.
- ^ Siegfried, Juliette. "History of Brain Surgery". Brain-Surgery.com. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
- ^ Osler, Sir William (1922). The Evolution of Modern Medicine: A Series of Lectures Delivered at Yale University on the Silliman Foundation in April, 1913. Silliman memorial lectures. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 6–9. See the section "Origin Of Medicine"
- ^ Walker AA (September–October 1997). "Neolithic Surgery". Archaeology Magazine Archive. 50 (5).
- J. Am. Med. Assoc.84: 1861–4.
- ISBN 978-0-585-12190-1.
- ^ "Mysteries of Africa". Encounter South Africa. Encounter Magazine. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2015. Stories of Medicine Men in Africa
- ISBN 978-0-8018-2726-6.
- ^ "Healing Secrets of Aboriginal Bush Medicine". Big River Internet. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
Trained from an early age by their elders and initiated into the deepest of tribal secrets...
- ^ "Oldest tooth filling was made by an Ice Age dentist in Italy".
- ^ "Stone age man used dentist drill". BBC News. 2006-04-06. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
- ^ Coulson, Ian. "Prehistoric Medicine In Kent". The History of Health and Medicine in Kent. Kent County Council. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
It is a matter of luck because only some skeletons survive
- Wikipedia's Ötzi the Iceman Article'..three or four of his right ribs had been squashed when he had been lying face down after death, or where the ice had crushed his body.'
- ^ "myDigiGuide: The Best UK TV Guide". www.mydigiguide.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
- ISBN 978-0-78947976-1.
- ^ Wikipedia's Article on the Mummy Juanita
- ISBN 978-1-40549120-4.
- PMID 13476920. Pages 318–21 are of particular interest in this subject
- ^ "Prehistoric Medicine". History GCSE / History of Medicine Lessons. Education Forum. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
External links
- Sem, Tatyana. "Shamanic Healing Rituals". Russian Museum of Ethnography.
- Psychedelic Timeline by Tom Frame
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