Evolution of Medicine

• When we think of medicine, we imagine the hospital or doctor’s office, sterile spaces, and
pills that make us feel better. But, thousands of years ago, medicine looked somewhat
different
• Prehistoric medicine refers to medicine before humans were able to read and write.
PRE-HISTORIC MEDICINE
WAY OF LIFE
• Prehistoric men believed that Hunter Gatherers
illness and diseases were a
punishment from the gods
•First physicians were Witch
Doctors who treated illness With
ceremonies
Other Cures
Trephination : One of the first surgeries
-A hole was cut into the skull to release
Evil Spirits
Prayers and Chants
• prehistoric people believed that spirits determined their lives.
• Most of the evidence that archeologists have found in prehistoric graves shows healthy
but badly set bones. This indicates that people in most communities did not know how to
set broken bones.
• Infections and complications: People lived as hunter-gatherers, and cuts, bruises, and
bone fractures probably occurred frequently. There were no antibiotics, vaccines, or
antiseptics, and people probably knew little about bacteria, viruses, fungi, or other
potential pathogens.
• They were probably unaware of how good hygiene practices can prevent infections and
their complications. As a result, infections were more likely to become serious and life-
threatening, and contagious diseases may have spread rapidly and become epidemics.
• Environmental exposure: There was little protection from natural disasters, such as cold
periods lasting 10 years or longer, droughts, floods, and diseases that destroyed large
food sources.
• Sex: Men lived longer than women, probably because males were the hunters. They
would have had access to their kills before the women, and so, possibly less chance of
malnutrition. Also, mortality associated with childbirth shortened the average lifespan of
women.
• Life expectancy
• It is difficult to assess life expectancy in prehistoric times. However, archaeologists who

have studied remains of adults from two prehistoric eras note that remains of those aged
20 to 40 years are more common than those aged over 40 years.
• This suggests that most people did not live to be over 40 years old, although this would
depend on when and where the person lived.
• Rosemary is a medicinal herb that people may have used since prehistoric times.
• People used medicinal herbs in prehistoric times, say anthropologists.
• There is some limited evidence that they used herbs and substances from natural sources
as medicines.
• Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis: There is evidence from several areas of the world that
people used rosemary as a medicinal herb. Globally, people attribute many different
medicinal qualities to rosemary. As a result, it is hard to be sure what they used it for in
ancient times.
Medicinal plants
• There is some evidence from present-day archeological sites in

Iraq that people used mallow and yarrow about 60,000 years ago.
• Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): This is said to be an astringent, a

diaphoretic, an aromatic, and a stimulant.
• An astringent causes tissues to contract and so helps reduce

bleeding. People probably applied astringents to wounds, cuts,
and abrasions.
• A diaphoretic promotes sweating and is a mild aromatic. It may

also have anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, and antipathogenic
properties, among others.
Geophagy
• This practice refers to eating soil-like or earthy substances, such as chalk and clay.
Animals and humans have done this for hundreds of thousands of years. In Western and
industrialized societies geophagy is related to an eating disorder known as pica.
• Prehistoric humans probably had their first medicinal experiences through eating earth
and clays.
• They may have copied animals, observing how some clays had healing qualities, when
animals ingested them.
• Similarly, some clays are useful for treating wounds. In some communities around the
world, people still use clay externally and internally to heal cuts and wounds.
Trepanning
• Share on PinterestIn prehistoric times, trepanning

was a medical procedure.
• This practice
drilling a hole involves treatingskull.
into the human health problems by
• There
holes is evidence
into people’s that
headshumans
since have beentimes
Neolithic boring
to
try to cure diseases
and evil spirits. or free the victim of demons
• From
believe studying
that cave paintings,
prehistoric peoples anthropologists
used trepanning
in an attempt to rid their fellows of
disorders, migraines, and epileptic seizures.mental
• The individual,
extracted bone ifasthey survived,
a good may have kept the
luck charm.
• There is also times
in prehistoric evidence that fractured
to treat trepanning was used
skulls.
• The medicine man or shaman
• Medicine men, also known as witch doctors or shamans, existed in some prehistoric
communities. They were in charge of their tribe’s health and gathered plant-based
medications, mainly herbs and roots, carried out rudimentary surgery, and cast spells and
charms.
• Tribespeople would also seek out a shaman for medical advice when they needed it for
sickness, injury, or disease.

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• When we think of medicine, we imagine the hospital or doctor’s office, sterile spaces, and

• It is difficult to assess life expectancy in prehistoric times. However, archaeologists who

• People used medicinal herbs in prehistoric times, say anthropologists.

• There is some evidence from present-day archeological sites in

• Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): This is said to be an astringent, a

• An astringent causes tissues to contract and so helps reduce

• A diaphoretic promotes sweating and is a mild aromatic. It may

• Share on PinterestIn prehistoric times, trepanning

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