Pre historic cultures - research

Prehistoric peoples lived throughout the world and till date though research, modern man have tried to find out about the lives and diseases of the prehistoric people but could never really come to a conclusions about the complete true facts and discoveries they made and all the evidences and guestimates were arrived at from the excavation made during the modern history finding adventure and it has been researched and corroborated that the tribal and aborigines never new how the human body works.  Their lives were spent around gathering foods and hunting and taking rests with the exception of protecting themselves from other animals of the surroundings. 

The earliest prehistoric peoples had features in common whether they were living in one parts of the world or others, they were nomads, they were hunter-gatherers, and all got their foods without farming, spoke different languages and dialects, they lived simple life without technology and their main weapons for the hunting in the beginning were wood and then on stones, later on they advanced to spears, bows and arrows, axes, knives and scrappers and all these were made from wood, bone and stones and at that time there were no separate countries

During pre-history, people were afflicted with ailments and diseases, just like we are today. The only difference is that they had a very different lifestyles and lifespans from what is today and they did not suffer from the same diseases so commonly that we modern societies are afflicted with today.

The prehistoric period are divided in the four eras:

Old Stone Age (Paleolithic):

During this period, the people were nomadic hunter-gatherers.

New Stone Age (Neolithic):

During this period, discovery of farming and the practice of farming started and thus, people started living in one place and this become a common practice around the world.

Bronze Age:

During these period, mankind discovered metal tools and thereafter started the making of various metal tools for the day to day requirements.

Iron Age:

During these period, new metal (Iron) was discovered and greatly improved the tools and many new weapons that could not be made earlier were made. 

Pre historic cultures - disease treatment - 1

Men who were called Medicine Men, witch-doctors and various other names in various parts of the world were the first person the tribal went to whenever they were afflicted with any disease or injured during hunting or any other issues associated with health which stops the ancient mankind from performing their daily activities like hunting, gathering food, cooking, etc.  These Medicine Men used to gather roots, leaves, buds and herbs mixed it with various other ingredients and were put on the afflicted parts, they even performed minor surgical procedures even without the modern sophisticated equipment and accessories that are used currently.  Due to the healing that is associated with such herbs and plant based mixtures, ancient mankind believed them as a special person in their tribes, to be looked upon in case of any difficulties.  Another name given to these medicines is Bush Medicine in some other parts of the world, since these medicines are made from plant materials, such as leaves and barks and seeds.  Rarely has animal products been used in such Bush Medicines, not to say it was not used.  A point to note is that major component of traditional medicine in herbal medicine, is the use of natural plant substances to treat or prevent illness.  Remedies varied between various tribes in various parts of the country or elsewhere.   One such remedies are the Aboriginal remedies and there was no single set of aboriginal medicines and remedies.

Also to note is that in those era, herbal substances formed only a small part of the tribal physicians work, and it was generally understood that serious illness have spiritual causes and cannot be cured without the intervention of God.  Thus, the Medicine Man’s duty was also to appease or expel the evil spirit troubling the sick person.  Incantation, self-induced trances assisted by herbal medicines and spells formed a standard practice or rituals of the Medicine Man instrument.  These practices and rituals also ensured the strengthening the Medicine Man’s own place as superior in the tribe to cure a patients.  They are associated with supernatural power treatments ability such as charms, spells and amulets to ward off evil spirits.  In some societies, like the Apache society, and many other societies, the medicine men initiate a ceremony over the patient, which are attended by their family and friends.  It consists of a magic formulas, prayers, and drumming.  The medicine man then reveals the nature of the disease and they can treat it.

These Medicine Man are believed by the tribal to be able to contact spirits or gods and thus use their supernatural powers to cure the patient and in the process remove evil spirits.  If this method does not work then it is believed that the spirit is too powerful to be driven out of the person.  Medicine Men are a central figure in any of the activities of the tribe and most sought after person in times of difficulty facing the tribe and thus because of their medical knowledge and the belief that they can seemingly contact the gods, they are highly revered or afraid of.  In primeval history, their religious and medical training were passed down orally.

Pre historic cultures - disease treatment

In prehistoric cultures, the treatment for disease were mainly plant based materials including herbs and substances derived from natural sources.  Since plant materials quickly rot under most conditions, mankind only used what was required for that particular ailment.  Even today historians are unlikely to fully understand which plants were used in prehistoric medicines.  Only a speculative view can be obtained by researching the climate of the respective society of that era and then checking which species of plants continue to grow in similar conditions today.   Unlike the ancient civilizations which could source plant materials internationally, prehistoric societies would have been restricted to localized areas, also it has been researched that nomadic tribes had greater variety of plant materials at their disposal as they did not stay in one place for a long period of time.  The effects of different plant materials was been found through trial and error and well passed on from generation to generation.  Gathering and dispensing of plant materials was in most cultures handled by women, who cared for the health of their family.  Plant sourced material are an important cure for diseases throughout history from the time of Stone Age.  This fund of knowledge have been passed down orally through the generations and generations.  The fungus, commonly found in alpine environments, have been used as a laxative by prehistoric peoples living in Northern Europe, since it is known to bring on short bouts of diarrhea when ingested, and was found among the possessions of a mummified man.  Though according to modern research, the study of prehistoric medicine heavily relies on artifacts and human remains, and on anthropology.  Uncontacted peoples and certain indigeneous peoples who lived in a traditional way started relying on plants for ailments and thus during that time the processing of discovering which plant was edible to humans were going on since Stone Age.  Many of these plants were found to cure ailments or soothe a fever.   In the earliest scientific tradition, herbal medicine became a medical practice, in a line descending directly from those distant beginnings and till today it remains an important part of medicine in many parts of the world and slowing getting out of existence due to the influx of modern medicine.  The physicians without any degree or qualifications stumbled upon herbal substances of real power, and they never understood the manner of the working of the herbal medicine on the patients, all they knew was that some plants cure the ailments.  The long centuries of primitive experiments resulted in able to identify hundreds of herbal medicines which cured a varied list of ailments and is even used today in modern times.  During the early primitive period things such as cuts, bruises, and breakages of bones, without antiseptics, proper facilities, or treatment of infections, also there were evidence of rickets, bone deformity and bone wastage caused by lack of vitamin D and men lived longer than women, but out of all these, mankind was able to find solutions to most of the common ailments primarily through plants which relieved the cause.

Earths and Clays also provided prehistoric peoples with some of their first medicines. This could have been related to geophagy extremely widespread among animals in the wild as well as among domesticated animals. Geophagy, in particular was very widespread among contemporary non-human primates during the Stone Age.  Also, early humans could have learned about the use of various healing clays by observing animal behavior, the way animal roll over in earth to cover their body with clay and earths.  To this dad, clay is used both internally and externally and for treating wounds, and after surgery.  The external use of clay and Geophagy  are still quite widespread among aboriginal peoples around the world, as well as among pre-industrial populations.

Need to go into history to understand the cause of disease or find the cure - 2

Draught animals: from 4000 BC

Four basic farm animals, out of which cattle represent the most significant development in village life. Not only does the cow provide much more milk than its own offspring require, but the brute strength of the ox was an unprecedented addition to man's muscle power. 

From about 4000 BC, oxen are harnessed and put to work by mankind. They were made to drag sledges, somewhat later even ploughs and wheeled wagons (an almost simultaneous innovation in the Middle East and European Countries). The plough, it was found to immeasurably increase the crop of wheat or rice and that to very fast, compared to hands. The wagon enabled these wheat and rice to be brought home from more distant fields. 

With these developments in place by mankind, the transition to settled communities became a reality and complete - from hunter-gatherer to farmer.  The Neolithic Revolution only spread to areas which are suitable for farming.  In the jungles of the world, hunting and gathering remained the standard way of life for human communities until the 20th century.  An intermediate stage, that of nomadic pastoralism, moving of the the flocks to new pastures, prevails in semi-barren regions. 

The use of a draught animal was considered a valuable but not an essential part of this farming revolution. No beast powerful enough for the purpose is available in America, but this did not prevent agriculture and civilization from evolving. 

Neolithic burials: from 8000 BC

As aresult of the Neolithic Revolution, the communities remain settled in one place, the burial of their dead becomes a matter of intense concern. An early solution was to keep them within the family home, buried beneath the floor or even under the bed. 

About 8000 BC, in Jericho, burials are found under the floors of houses as well as in nearby vacant lots. In Catal Huyuk, 1500 years later, later on the normal place for burial was within the house, under the brick and plaster platform which is used for sleeping and other everyday purposes. 

A procedure in Catal Huyuk was for the body kept outside the town, where vultures and insects strips the bones dry. When the skeleton is ready for burial, the sleeping platform in the house is opened up and the space for the newcomer was arranged in such a way so that both the present occupants and newcomers have space designated, and the platform is bricked up again and plastered over. 

A society with elaborate shrines most probably must certainly have accompanied such an event with considerable ritual that is even prevalent now. The majority of burials are without funeral gifts, but in a few cases the jewels of women and the weapons of men are buried with them. 

Need to go into history to understand the cause of disease or find the cure - 1

The first farmers from 8001 BC

From watering the plants in a dry spell and from weeding around a plant, it is a small step in collecting its seeds and planting them in a protected spot where they will have better than average chances of growing.

From keeping animals in cages, to kill them when needed was a small step in keeping them until their offspring are born.

The process of cultivating crops and domesticating animals was a slow process formed at first only a small part of a community’s diet, most of it coming still from hunting and gathering.  In each place where the change happened, its pattern is no different.

The earliest place known to have lived mainly from the cultivation of crops is Jericho. By around 8000 BC this community, who were occupying a naturally well-watered region, were into growing selected forms of wheat (emmer and einkorn are the two varieties), which was soon to be followed by barley. Though no longer gatherers like before, these people turned into hunters. Their source of meat was wild gazelle, cattle, goat and boars. 

Jericho is also known as the first town, that too it was no accident, with a population of 2000 or more. A pioneering agricultural community, surrounded by various other tribes dependent mostly on gathering food, offers easy pickings which then needed vigorous protection. Jericho had protective walls and a tower. 

Sheep and goats, cattle and pigs: 9000-7000 BC

The first animals known to have been domesticated as a source of food are sheep in the Middle East.  This deducing was arrived at after see high proportion of bones of one-year-old sheep discarded in a settlement at Shanidar, in what is now called northern Iraq.   Goats soon followed thereafter, and since then these two become the standard animals of the nomadic pastoralists, a tribes which moves all year long with their flocks, guided by the availability of fresh grass. 

We also find that cattle and pigs are also associated more with settled communities, were domesticated slightly later - and it might have started probably not long after 7000 BC.  The Ox may first have been bred by humans in western Asia. The pig must have been probably first domesticated in China. 

Need to go into history to understand the cause of disease or find the cure

We need to go into history that is millions of years ago to understand the difference in lifestyle as it is called now and the way of living and how mankind evolved from Stone Age to its current state.  As far as one can go into history, almost the whole of human history, in the ancient times, at least 3 million years ago, mankind had lived by carrying out two basic activities of hunting for food, fishing and gathering edible items of all kinds from fruits to insects.  Mankind has lived by doing what comes naturally - as a hunter-gatherers.  The animals communicate well enough to hunt as a group, bees can locate where the best pollen is.  Well it is true that human beings also have dignified both activities with elaborate ritual and with attention to the spirits of nature.  The only exception in human race is that business of hunting and gathering has involved specialization, the men doing the hunting and the women doing the gathering.  Unlike the animals, humans carry home the food they hunted and share and consume it, rather than hunt and consume it there and then.  All these is a result of mankind’s ability to communicate, speculate, and rationalize.  These does not alter the fact that 3 million years ago Stone Age man, the hunter-gatherer, engaged in an activity as natural as the swoop of a eagle or the grazing of a deer.

The change then came 10,000 years ago when mankind first discovered how to cultivate crops and then discovered how to domesticate animals.  This was the most significant development in human history.  It happened within the Stone Age, the tools used then were flint rather than metal it is this dividing line which separates the old Stone Age (palaeolithic) from the new Stone Age (Neolithic) and this has been aptly called the Neolithic Revolution.  In this revolution, the strange thing that occurred independently in separate parts of the world – the middle east and in the America.  How this unlikely coincidence occurred which ended in the cold phase of the then present ice age.  Bison, in herds, moved to colder regions, Mammoths become extinct and plants of all kinds grow more easily in the new temperature zones.  It is not very hard to imagine that in these circumstances, a strong human race impulse to abandon the all the pursuit of the bison and to just stay, instead, in a region where edible plants are now growing in sufficient profusion seem worth encouraging and protected by weeds around them. Some human groups adapted to a new way of life. Others go after the bison.  If the impulse is to settle down, there is also a strong incentive to ensure that animals remain nearby as a supply of food and this may involve attempts to herd them and/or to pen them in enclosures, or to entice them near the settlement by laying out fodder. 

Origin of disease - Cancer was unheard of in ancient civilization

In the ancient world, the word "Cancer" was unheard of.

Ancient Egypt (3200BC to 515BC) is where we first see the dawn of what, today, we call "medical care". The Egyptian civilization was one of the first great civilization on this planet. Egyptians thought gods, demons and spirits played a key role in causing diseases. Many people who famed to become doctors according to the role entrusted upon them, at that time believed that evil spirits blocked channels in the body, and this affected the way the body functioned. 

Research into this involved trying to find ways to unblock these so called "Blocked Channels". Gradually, through a process which took lots of trial and errors and some basic science was discovered and thus the profession of a "doctor of medicine" emerged and started gaining prominence. Ancient Egyptian doctors as well as other civilizations used a combination of natural remedies, combined with prayer and offerings to cure the so called diseases.

Unlike prehistoric peoples who were not able to document their healing procedures, ancient Egyptians were able to document their research and knowledge and keep it safe, they were could read and write; they also had a system of mathematics which helped scientists make calculations based on various parameters. Documented ancient Egyptian medical literature is among the oldest in existence today but there may be more such civilization whose healing methods are documented.

The ancient Egyptians had an agricultural economy, organized and structured government, social conventions and properly enforced laws through which they functioned. Their society was stable even at that time; many people lived their whole lives in the same place, unlike most of their prehistoric predecessors who had to move from one place to another in search of food and fresh pastures. This stability allowed medical research to develop and improve.