When we think of medicine nowadays a pill or a liquid to be measured out comes to mind. But what would come to the minds of prehistoric humans? In the following blog I will address a method we still use and a recent finding of who also used medical plants.
I am sure you have heard of Shamans, now they are seen as crazy, full of unnecessary knowledge and superstition. That may be how we see them, but in the time before modern doctors, they were the person to run to if you or a family member had something as small as a headache. A method, that began in the Neolithic period, is a method we still use today, albeit not as frequently as we did 100 years ago. This method is named trepanation, which consists of cutting a hole in the skull (there is evidence of this practice from all over the world). Seeing how we as a species have always been violent, the head was a section that has been targeted in battle throughout the centuries, and this was no different for the prehistoric humans. The removing of shattered skull or to remove blood that had seeped into the skull was one of the first suggested reasons they would go through the pain of trepanation, which was then seen as an emergency surgery (they had no such thing as anesthesia). With the lack of modern cutting implements, they had to use stone tools. Most likely using the same ones they would use for skinning an animal, probably made of flit of obsidian (a good number of modern surgeons actually prefer obsidian surgical tools mostly because no rust and feel they are more exact with the obsidian blade).
It is ironic how in prehistoric times, they had good reason to go through that pain, but as the ages and humans progressed, the practice of trepanation became an almost everyday operation, especially in the Middle Ages. In this time period, most everything they felt rooted from problems with the brain, they would open the skull to fix it. These problems varied from seizures to releasing a ghost from in the skull. Now, having a hole cut into the skull sounds like eventual death from the operation, but in fact we have evidence of those who were able to heal after and some, whose problems were not all gone, had several trepanation operations. There were of course casualties, but if this operation meant imminent death, I am sure they would have stopped centuries ago. This healing of the skull is also evident when we just started in the Neolithic period. In modern times, we still use trepanation, but it is nowhere as frequent as it was years ago (examples below; on the left is an example of one who died in or around surgery, on the right is a healed skull).
I am sure you have heard of Shamans, now they are seen as crazy, full of unnecessary knowledge and superstition. That may be how we see them, but in the time before modern doctors, they were the person to run to if you or a family member had something as small as a headache. A method, that began in the Neolithic period, is a method we still use today, albeit not as frequently as we did 100 years ago. This method is named trepanation, which consists of cutting a hole in the skull (there is evidence of this practice from all over the world). Seeing how we as a species have always been violent, the head was a section that has been targeted in battle throughout the centuries, and this was no different for the prehistoric humans. The removing of shattered skull or to remove blood that had seeped into the skull was one of the first suggested reasons they would go through the pain of trepanation, which was then seen as an emergency surgery (they had no such thing as anesthesia). With the lack of modern cutting implements, they had to use stone tools. Most likely using the same ones they would use for skinning an animal, probably made of flit of obsidian (a good number of modern surgeons actually prefer obsidian surgical tools mostly because no rust and feel they are more exact with the obsidian blade).
It is ironic how in prehistoric times, they had good reason to go through that pain, but as the ages and humans progressed, the practice of trepanation became an almost everyday operation, especially in the Middle Ages. In this time period, most everything they felt rooted from problems with the brain, they would open the skull to fix it. These problems varied from seizures to releasing a ghost from in the skull. Now, having a hole cut into the skull sounds like eventual death from the operation, but in fact we have evidence of those who were able to heal after and some, whose problems were not all gone, had several trepanation operations. There were of course casualties, but if this operation meant imminent death, I am sure they would have stopped centuries ago. This healing of the skull is also evident when we just started in the Neolithic period. In modern times, we still use trepanation, but it is nowhere as frequent as it was years ago (examples below; on the left is an example of one who died in or around surgery, on the right is a healed skull).
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But what of those who were not human, did they have something as outlandish as trepanation? I am pleased to say, there is no evidence of it before the Neolithic period. In fact, the concern of what was happening under the skin and looking for ways to make it better is not reserved for Homo sapiens. Recently, in the 2012, there was a study of the diet of Neanderthal's by scraping their teeth. What was found, was not expected. The scraping, of course, show an abundance of meats and proteins, but also plants; medical plants. They ate several plants for the taste, but there were a few that have no nutritional value, Not only did some of plants they ate have no nutritional value, but several Neanderthals would have found them bitter. “One case was particularly intriguing: The scrapings from an individual known as Adult 4 contained chemicals known as azulenes and coumarins. Those are the sorts of chemicals that are found in yarrow and chamomile, two types of herbal remedies. Yarrow is an astringent that's long been used to cleanse wounds when used externally, or counter internal bleeding when ingested.” And chamomile is best know in tea form for calming headaches and colds.
In the previous blog I posted (http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-primatology), I mentioned chimpanzees eating medical plants to calm stomach aches. Who would have thought that hundreds of years ago, Neanderthals were eating those types of plants as well. What is more, who would have thought hundreds of years ago, our ancestors went through excruciating pain just to feel better. Now we have so many medications at our fingertips. We maybe the most medicated generation, but look on the bright side, we are not the generation with the most trepanations.
Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.
In the previous blog I posted (http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-primatology), I mentioned chimpanzees eating medical plants to calm stomach aches. Who would have thought that hundreds of years ago, Neanderthals were eating those types of plants as well. What is more, who would have thought hundreds of years ago, our ancestors went through excruciating pain just to feel better. Now we have so many medications at our fingertips. We maybe the most medicated generation, but look on the bright side, we are not the generation with the most trepanations.
Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.
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