Prehistoric Medicine

Prehistoric Medicine

1. How healthy were people?

   • High death rate among babies
   • Few lived over 40
   • Healthy teeth (no sugar in diet)
   • Women died young
     • Child birth
     • Heavy physical work

2. What caused sickness?

   • A lot of physical work
   • Pregnancy dangerous
   • Poor diet

3. How did they treat illness and injuries?

   • Cut: herbal remedy
   • Worn charms to keep away evil spirits
   • Headache: trephining- cutting hole in skull and removing piece of bone

4. Who provided medical care?

   • Medicine men (powerful members of tribe) cast out evil spirits
   • Women (day to day health care)

5. What did they think caused illness

   • If spirits left your body, you would become ill
   • Celts worshiped many spirits- many connected with nature e.g. water spirit