Prehistoric medicine

Prehistoric medicine is a term applied to the use and development of medicine before the invention of writing (see Prehistory for a definition of the time period). Because writing was invented at different times in different places, the term "prehistoric medicine" encompasses a large number of time periods and dates. Previously uncontacted peoples and certain indigenous peoples who live in a traditional way, have been studied to gain insight into both contemporary and ancient practices. Traditional medicine in various cultures can include practices originating from both before and after the invention of writing. (See Medicine for historic and modern practices.)

Beliefs and ideas

Supernatural

Prehistoric people believed in both supernatural causes and cures for diseases, beliefs which would continue in part to be used by the Ancient Civilizations (see Medicine in ancient Rome, Ancient Egyptian medicine, Ancient Greek medicine). They blamed those diseases which did not have a rational or obvious cause on the gods or evil spirits.. They believed that evil spirits could 'inhabit' the body and cause a person to become ill, and that these spirits could be removed from the body through the skull/head (Trepanning, see below).

Natural

Prehistoric people used their common-sense to understand the causes of many diseases and injuries, but most primarily the latter for which there was usually a clear cause; they did not have to blame injuries on the gods or spirits because they were able to understand how they were caused; if someone was injured by a fall then they realised that the fall must have been the cause. The discovery of a mummified body in the Tyrolean Alps in Northern Italy in 1991 gave a suggestion that prehistoric people may have known more than it was thought: "The discovery of the fungus suggests that the Iceman was aware of his intestinal parasites and fought them with measured doses of Piptoporus betulinus (birch fungus, see Herbs section below)." Even if the man did not have a full understanding of intestinal parasites, it does suggest that prehistoric people were willing to accept causes other than the supernatural for disease.

Diseases/causes of death

Prehistoric humans would have suffered from different diseases and ailments than we in today's society do. There is evidence that many people suffered from Osteoarthritis, probably caused by the lifting of heavy objects which would have been a daily task in their society. There is also evidence of Rickets bone deformity and bone wastage (Osteomalacia), which is caused by a lack of Vitamin D. This may be a result of the poor nutrition and limited diet available to prehistoric people. Without antiseptics, proper facilities or knowledge of germs, simple things such as cuts, bruises and breakages of bone could have been very serious if they became infected. However the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle would likely have benefited them, improving their fitness and general health greatly; they did not rear animals so animal-related illnesses were uncommon; they would have only been able to eat fresh food (although the variety of their diet would have been limited (depending on their environment)); diseases would spread slowly because of tribal grouping and low population (the disease would often kill the host before being able to spread itself); prehistoric people would not have suffered from the effects of pollution, their nomadic lifestyle meant that they could simply leave waste matter behind.

The life expectancy in prehistoric times was very low, 25 - 40 years old, 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 women may be malnutrition; men, as hunters, would have recieved better food that their female counterparts, who would subsequently have been less resistant to disease.

Treatments

Herbs

Herbs, and substances derived from natural sources, were one of the only treatments for diseases in prehistoric medicine. The effects of different herbs would have been found through trial and error, on behalf of the medicine man of the tribe, most likely resulting in many deaths. They would have been dispensed and gathered by medicine men or by women; women usually looked after the health of their family. Herbs have remained an important cure for diseases throughout history, despite the advancement of other cures and techniques, and are known to be an effective way of treating many ailments. As they would not have been able to record the effects of different herbs, knowledge of them would have been passed down orally through the generations.

Herbs such as Rosemary may well have been used for medicinal purposes by prehistoric humans.

There has been suggestion that the fruit of the birch fungus, Piptoporus betulinus, which are commonly found in alpine environments, could have been used as a basic laxative by prehistoric people, since it brings on short bouts of diarrhoea and was found among the possessions of a mummified man.

Because herbs will rot away in most conditions and because no written notes could have been made about them or their uses, historians are unlikely ever to know exactly which herbs were used in prehistoric medicine. Of course an idea of which herbs they used has been obtained by looking at the area in which the prehistoric tribes lived in and the herbs that grow there naturally; unlike the ancient civilisations who were able to transport and trade herbs from across their and others empires, prehistoric people would have relied on local herbs, unless of course they were nomadic, in which case they would have moved settlements and may have been able to gather them from further afield.

Surgery

Trepanning (or sometimes called trephining) is the process which involves the removal of evil spirits from a person's skull by a drill. There are many theories as to why it was carried out, some say it was used to cure certain conditions such as headaches and epilepsy, but also that prehistoric humans might have considered these conditions effects of having an evil spirit trapped within someone. Despite it being a very dangerous procedure to carry out (if the drill went into the brain then the patient would have died) there is evidence that many people survived it; skeletons have been recovered showing signs that the bone tissue surrounding the hole has partially grown back. The plate of skull bone (sometimes as large as 5cm/2in in diameter) was kept with the person (often as a lucky charm) until their death when it was buried with them, supposedly returning the body to its full state for the afterlife. Trepanning is one of the few surgical operations that would have been carried out in prehistoric times. Though it is unlikely that it was very beneficial for the patient, modern experiments have suggested that it may actually have been able to increase brain activity by reducing pressure in the skull, of course this was an unintentional side effect of the procedure. Other kinds of surgery were not undertaken and would have undoubtedly failed if they had; Medicine Men had neither the training or the specialised equipment to do surgery. There is evidence to suggest that prehistoric medicine could set broken bones. The broken area was covered in clay, which then set hard so that the bone could heal properly without interference.

Magic and medicine men

Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy. Nushagak, Alaska, 1890s. Nushagak, located on Nushagak Bay of the Bering Sea in southwest Alaska, is part of the territory of the Yup'ik, speakers of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language.

Main articles: Medicine man and Shamanism

Medicine Men (or witch-doctors/shamans), along with the women (who cared for the health of their families), would have looked after the health of their tribe, gathering and distributing herbs, performing minor surgical procedures (see above), providing medical advice and supernatural treatments, such as charms, spells and amulets to ward off evil spirits. 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 forumlas, prayers and drumming. The medicine man then, from the patient's recalling of his past and possible offenses against his 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 the gods and use their powers to cure the patient, and therefore in the process remove the evil spirits. If both this method and treppaning did not work, the spirit was considered too powerful to be driven out of the person. A medicine man would likely have been a central figure in the tribal system, because of the their medical knowledge and because they could seemingly contact the gods; many prehistoric cave paintings have been discovered showing a medicine man wearing antlers, which seems to agree with this theory. Because they would not have received any formal training in medicine (due to the fact there was no way to record medical details), it is likely that any medical knowledge would have been passed down orally.

The problem of evidence

Because of the nature of the time period (by definition before the invention of writing) it is harder for historians to gather strong evidence on matters relating to prehistoric medicine. As there is a lack of written evidence they have turned to other sources such as skeletons and people nowadays who live a similar nomadic lifestyle, though there are problems with both sources.

Human skeletons are very rare (many having been destroyed or removed due to burial rituals) and it is a matter of luck as to which ones survive (and many that are recovered may have been damaged). The best kinds of archaeological evidence are mummies, bodies which have been preserved either by freezing (in colder regions), or in peat bogs; there is no evidence to suggest that prehistoric people purposely mummified the dead for religious reasons, as the Ancient Egyptians did. From these bodies scientists can discover the subject's weight at the time of death, any illnesses they were suffering from, their height, weight, diet, age (at time of death) and condition of bones, all of which give vital indications of how prehistoric medicine worked. However, even with all of the physical evidence, without written evidence it is impossible for us to find out exactly what certain prehistoric societies believed, thought and felt.

Though not technically classed as 'written evidence', prehistoric people left many kinds of paintings, using paints made of minerals such as lime, clay & charcoal and brushes made from feathers, animal fur or twigs, on the walls of the caves they inhabited. Although many of these paintings are thought to have a spiritual or religious purpose behind their creation, there have been some, such as the man with the antlers (thought to be a medicine man), which have revealed some part of prehistoric medicine.

The writings of certain cultures (such as the Romans) can be used as evidence in discovering how their contemporary prehistoric cultures (who had not yet discovered writing) 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 environment in which nomadic people lived; prehistoric people in Britain for example cannot be effectively compared to aboriginal peoples in Australia, because of the obvious differences in what resources would have been available to each.

See also

• Primitive skills
• Sweat lodge
• Mellified Man
• Venus of Willendorf
• Anthropology

References

Fienup-Riordan, Ann (1994). Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup'ik Eskimo Oral Tradition. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

External links

• Sem, Tatyana. "Shamanic Healing Rituals". Russian Museum of Ethnography.