Prehistoric Medicine (pre-writing)

Prehistoric Medicine (pre-writing)

1. Prehistoric people were nomadic until around 10,000 BC

   • They were hunter-gatherers, travelling to find food rather than settling in one place.
   • The life expectancy was low - 19-25 years.
   • People began farming after 10,000 BC and life expectancy increased to 20-27

2. Prehistoric people died from disease they couldn't stop, infections from accidents, blood loss, warfare and occasional food shortages

3. They had mostly supernatural explanations for diseases.

   • They thought evil spirits could enter a persons body and become trapped, causing illness.
   • They thought people could curse each other with bad spirits that caused disease.
   • They thought diseases could be caused by people losing their own spirits - often because of a curse.

4. They received supernatural treatments or preventions from MEDICINE MEN.

   • Medicine Men would chant and dance to enter a trance to contact spirits to get rid of evil spirits.
   • Medicine Men would also give people charms to ward off evil spirits.
   • Medicine Men would carry out TREPHINING - boring a hole into the skull - to release evil spirits, using stone knives.
     • Skulls have been found where the bone has grown back over the hole - this means the person survived.
     • They didn't know it but this relieved pressure on the brain if a person had a tumour or water in the brain.

5. They also had natural treatments of illnesses and injuries, mostly provided by mothers or women.

   • Women passed down natural herbal remedies that were used to treat illnesses.
   • Natural injuries, such as from fighting or hunting, were treated using common sense.
     • Mud was used to set broken bones and wooden splints were used to support them.