Prehistoric medicine

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A skull showing evidence of trepanning Crane-trepanation-img 0507.jpg
A skull showing evidence of trepanning

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]

Contents

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

Herbs such as rosemary may have been used for medical purposes by prehistoric people. Rosmarino fiori.jpg
Herbs such as rosemary may have been used for medical purposes by prehistoric people.

Plant materials (herbs and substances derived from natural sources) [10] were among the treatments for diseases in prehistoric cultures.[ which? ] [11] Since plant materials quickly rot under most conditions, historians are unlikely to fully understand which species were used in prehistoric medicine. A speculative view can be obtained by researching the climate of the respective society and then checking which species continue to grow in similar conditions today [12] and through anthropological studies of existing indigenous peoples. [13] [14] Unlike the ancient civilisations which could source plant materials internationally, prehistoric societies would have been restricted to localised areas, though nomadic tribes may have had a greater variety of plant materials at their disposal than more stationary societies.

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 birch polypore fungus, commonly found in alpine environments, may have been used as a laxative by prehistoric people living in Northern Europe, since it is known to bring on short bouts of diarrhoea when ingested, and was found among the possessions of a mummified man. [18]

The use of earth and clays

Earths and clays may have provided prehistoric peoples with some of their first medicines. This is related to geophagy, which is extremely widespread among animals in the wild as well as among domesticated animals. In particular, geophagy is widespread among contemporary non-human primates. [19] Also, early humans could have learned about the use of various healing clays by observing animal behaviour. Such clay is used both internally and externally, such as for treating wounds, and after surgery (see below).[ citation needed ] Geophagy, and the external use of clay are both still quite widespread among aboriginal peoples around the world, as well as among pre-industrial populations.

Surgery

Trepanning (sometimes Trephining) was a basic surgical operation in which a hole was drilled or scraped into the skull. It was carried out in prehistoric societies across the world, [20] [21] although evidence shows a concentration of the practice in Peru. [17] [20] [22] Several theories question the reasoning behind trepanning; it could have been used to cure certain conditions such as headaches and epilepsy. [23] [24] There is evidence discovered of bone tissue surrounding the surgical hole partially grown back, so therefore survival of the procedure did occur at least on occasion. [17]

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,[ which? ] where applicable (geographically and technologically), were able to set broken or fractured bones using clay materials. An injured area was covered in clay, which then set hard so that the bone could heal properly without interference. [1] Also, primarily in the Americas, the pincers of certain ant species were used to close up wounds from infection; the ant was held above the wound until it bit, where its head would be removed allowing the pincers to remain and hold closed the wound. [26]

Magic and medicine men

Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy Yupik shaman Nushagak.jpg
Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy

Medicine men (also witch-doctors, shamans) maintained the health of their tribe by gathering and distributing herbs, performing minor surgical procedures, [28] providing medical advice, and supernatural treatments such as charms, spells, and amulets to ward off evil spirits. [29] In Apache 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 Mehrgarh in Balochistan province in the present day Pakistan discovered that the people of Indus Valley civilization from the early Harappan periods (c. 3300 BC) had knowledge of medicine and dentistry. The physical anthropologist who carried out the examinations, Professor Andrea Cucina from the University of Missouri, made the discovery when he was cleaning the teeth from one of the men. Later research in the same area found evidence of teeth having been drilled dating to 7,000 BCE. [32]

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. [33] [34] [ circular reference ] The most informative archaeological evidence are mummies, remains which have been preserved by either freezing or in peat bogs; [35] [36] no evidence exists to suggest that prehistoric people mummified the dead for religious reasons, as Ancient Egyptians did. These bodies can provide scientists with subjects' (at the time of death): weight, illnesses, height, diet, age, and bone conditions, [37] [ circular reference ] which grant vital indications of how developed prehistoric medicine was.

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, [38] there have been some, such as a man with antlers (thought to be a medicine man), which have revealed some part of prehistoric medicine. Many cave paintings of human hands have shown missing fingers (none have been shown without thumbs), which suggests that these were cut off for sacrificial or practical purposes, as is the case among the Pygmies and Khoikhoi. [39]

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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trepanning</span> Surgically drilling a hole in the skull

Trepanning, also known as trepanation, trephination, trephining or making a burr hole, is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull. The intentional perforation of the cranium exposes the dura mater to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases or release pressured blood buildup from an injury. It may also refer to any "burr" hole created through other body surfaces, including nail beds. A trephine is an instrument used for cutting out a round piece of skull bone to relieve pressure beneath a surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditional healers of Southern Africa</span> Practitioners of traditional African medicine in Southern Africa

Traditional healers of Southern Africa are practitioners of traditional African medicine in Southern Africa. They fulfill different social and political roles in the community like divination, healing physical, emotional, and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals, finding lost cattle, protecting warriors, counteracting witchcraft and narrating the history, cosmology, and concepts of their tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trepanation in Mesoamerica</span>

Trephination in Mesoamerica has been practised by a number of pre-Columbian cultures in the Mesoamerican region, dating from at least the mid-Preclassic era, and continuing up to the late Postclassic, or ca. 1200 CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbal medicine</span> Study and use of supposed medicinal properties of plants

Herbal medicine is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedies, such as the anti-malarial group of drugs called artemisinin isolated from Artemisia annua, a herb that was known in Chinese medicine to treat fever. There is limited scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of many plants used in 21st-century herbalism, which generally does not provide standards for purity or dosage. The scope of herbal medicine sometimes include fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditional medicine</span> Formalized folk medicine

Traditional medicine comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the era of modern medicine. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as "the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement and treatment of physical and mental illness". Traditional medicine is often contrasted with scientific medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medieval medicine of Western Europe</span>

In the Middle Ages, the medicine of Western Europe was composed of a mixture of existing ideas from antiquity. In the Early Middle Ages, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, standard medical knowledge was based chiefly upon surviving Greek and Roman texts, preserved in monasteries and elsewhere. Medieval medicine is widely misunderstood, thought of as a uniform attitude composed of placing hopes in the church and God to heal all sicknesses, while sickness itself exists as a product of destiny, sin, and astral influences as physical causes. On the other hand, medieval medicine, especially in the second half of the medieval period, became a formal body of theoretical knowledge and was institutionalized in the universities. Medieval medicine attributed illnesses, and disease, not to sinful behavior, but to natural causes, and sin was connected to illness only in a more general sense of the view that disease manifested in humanity as a result of its fallen state from God. Medieval medicine also recognized that illnesses spread from person to person, that certain lifestyles may cause ill health, and some people have a greater predisposition towards bad health than others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medicinal plants</span> Plants or derivatives used to treat medical conditions in humans or animals

Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection against insects, fungi, diseases, and herbivorous mammals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geophagia</span> Practice of eating earth or soil-like substrates such as clay or chalk

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cranioplasty</span> Surgical operation on skull

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of surgery</span>

Surgery is the branch of medicine that deals with the physical manipulation of a bodily structure to diagnose, prevent, or cure an ailment. Ambroise Paré, a 16th-century French surgeon, stated that to perform surgery is, "To eliminate that which is superfluous, restore that which has been dislocated, separate that which has been united, join that which has been divided and repair the defects of nature."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistory</span> Span of time before recorded history

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medicinal clay</span> Use of clay for health reasons

The use of medicinal clay in folk medicine goes back to prehistoric times. Indigenous peoples around the world still use clay widely, which is related to geophagy. The first recorded use of medicinal clay goes back to ancient Mesopotamia.

This article is about traditional Hausa medicine practised by the Hausa people of West Africa.

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The history of herbalism is closely tied with the history of medicine from prehistoric times up until the development of the germ theory of disease in the 19th century. Modern medicine from the 19th century to today has been based on evidence gathered using the scientific method. Evidence-based use of pharmaceutical drugs, often derived from medicinal plants, has largely replaced herbal treatments in modern health care. However, many people continue to employ various forms of traditional or alternative medicine. These systems often have a significant herbal component. The history of herbalism also overlaps with food history, as many of the herbs and spices historically used by humans to season food yield useful medicinal compounds, and use of spices with antimicrobial activity in cooking is part of an ancient response to the threat of food-borne pathogens.

Mapuche medicine is the system of medical treatment historically used by the Mapuche people of southern Chile. It is essentially magical-religious in nature, believing disease to be caused by supernatural factors such as spells and curable by treatments based on rituals, thermal waters and herbs. Knowledge of medicinal herbs is one of the best-known elements of Mapuche medicine and is still used today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chumash traditional medicine</span> Traditional medicine practiced by the Chumash people

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cranial drill</span> Tool for drilling simple burr holes (trepanation) or for creating larger openings in the skull

A cranial drill, also known as a craniotome, is a tool for drilling simple burr holes (trepanation) or for creating larger openings in the skull. This exposes the brain and allows operations like craniotomy and craniectomy to be done. The drill itself can be manually or electrically driven, and primarily consists of a handpiece and a drill bit which is a sharp tool that has a form similar to Archimedes' screw, this instrument must be inserted into the drill chuck to perform holes and remove materials. The trepanation tool is generally equipped with a clutch which automatically disengages once it touches a softer tissue, thus preventing tears in the dura mater. For larger openings, the craniotome is an instrument that has replaced manually pulled saw wires in craniotomies from the 1980s.

References

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  20. 1 2 "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.
  21. ↑ Piek J, Lidke G, Terberger T, von Smekal U, Gaab MR (July 1999). "Stone age skull surgery in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: a systematic study". Neurosurgery . 45 (1): 147–51, discussion 151. doi:10.1097/00006123-199907000-00033. PMID   10414577. A small but informative text
  22. ↑ "Trephination, An Ancient Surgery". UIC Oral Sciences OSCI 590: Hominid Evolution, Dental Anthropology, and Human Variation. University of Illinois at Chicago. Archived from the original on 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.
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  30. ↑ "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...
  31. ↑ "Oldest tooth filling was made by an Ice Age dentist in Italy".
  32. ↑ "Stone age man used dentist drill". BBC News. 2006-04-06. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
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  34. ↑ 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.'
  35. ↑ "myDigiGuide: The Best UK TV Guide". www.mydigiguide.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
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  37. ↑ Wikipedia's Article on the Mummy Juanita
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