Editing History of medicine (section)

== Prehistoric medicine ==
{{Main|Prehistoric medicine}}
[[File:Achillea millefolium 5Dsr 9042.jpg|thumb|[[Achillea millefolium|Yarrow]], a medicinal plant found in human-occupied caves in the [[Upper Paleolithic|Upper Palaeolithic]] period<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal | vauthors = Martkoplishvili I, Kvavadze E |date=2015-05-26 |title=Some popular medicinal plants and diseases of the Upper Palaeolithic in Western Georgia |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |volume=166 |pages=42–52 |doi=10.1016/j.jep.2015.03.003 |pmid=25769538 }}</ref>]]
[[Prehistoric medicine]] is a field of study focused on understanding the use of [[medicinal plants]], healing practices, illnesses, and wellness of humans before written records existed.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Hardy K | title = Paleomedicine and the Evolutionary Context of Medicinal Plant Use | journal = Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia | volume = 31 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–15 | date = 2021 | pmid = 33071384 | pmc = 7546135 | doi = 10.1007/s43450-020-00107-4 }}</ref> Although styled prehistoric "medicine", prehistoric healthcare practices were vastly different from what we understand medicine to be in the present era and more accurately refers to studies and exploration of early healing practices.

This period extends across the first use of stone tools by [[Homo|early humans]] {{circa}} 3.3&nbsp;million years ago<ref name=":1">{{cite journal | vauthors = Harmand S, Lewis JE, Feibel CS, Lepre CJ, Prat S, Lenoble A, Boës X, Quinn RL, Brenet M, Arroyo A, Taylor N, Clément S, Daver G, Brugal JP, Leakey L, Mortlock RA, Wright JD, Lokorodi S, Kirwa C, Kent DV, Roche H | display-authors = 6 | title = 3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya | journal = Nature | volume = 521 | issue = 7552 | pages = 310–315 | date = May 2015 | pmid = 25993961 | doi = 10.1038/nature14464 | bibcode = 2015Natur.521..310H | s2cid = 1207285 }}</ref> to the beginning of [[writing system]]s and subsequent [[recorded history]] {{circa}} 5000 years ago.

As human populations were once scattered across the world, forming isolated communities and cultures that sporadically interacted, a range of [[List of archaeological periods|archaeological periods]] have been developed to account for the differing contexts of technology, sociocultural developments, and uptake of writing systems throughout early human societies.<ref>{{Cite book | vauthors = Bellwood P |title=The Global Prehistory of Human Migration |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-118-97059-1 |edition=1st |location=London }}{{page needed|date=October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.418 |chapter=Stone Tools: Their Relevance for Historians and the Study of Historical Processes |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |date=2018 |last1=Pargeter |first1=Justin |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 }}</ref> Prehistoric medicine is then highly contextual to the location and people in question,<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Timbrell L |date=2020 |title=How to read stone tools: A new mode system for describing variation in the Eastern African lithic record? |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=280–282 |doi=10.1002/evan.21866 |pmc=7756466 }}</ref> creating an ununiform period of study to reflect various degrees of societal development.

Without written records, insights into prehistoric medicine comes indirectly from interpreting evidence left behind by prehistoric humans. One branch of this includes the [[Prehistoric archaeology|archaeology]] of medicine; a discipline that uses a range of archaeological techniques from observing illness in human remains, plant fossils, to excavations to uncover medical practices.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book | veditors = Sykes N, Shaw J |date=2022-04-05 |title=The Archaeology of Medicine and Healthcare |doi=10.4324/9781003164623| vauthors = Sykes N, Shaw J |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9781003164623 |s2cid=247991366 }}</ref> There is evidence of healing practices within [[Neanderthal]]s<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Spikins P, Needham A, Tilley L, Hitchens G |title=Calculated or caring? Neanderthal healthcare in social context |journal=World Anthropology |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=384–403 |date=22 February 2018 |doi=10.1080/00438243.2018.1433060 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and other early human species. Prehistoric evidence of human engagement with medicine include the discovery of [[psychoactive plant]] sources such as [[psilocybin mushroom]]s in {{circa}} 6000 [[Common Era|BCE]] [[Sahara]]<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Samorini G |date=2019-03-29 |title=The oldest archeological data evidencing the relationship of Homo sapiens with psychoactive plants: A worldwide overview |journal=Journal of Psychedelic Studies |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=63–80 |doi=10.1556/2054.2019.008 |s2cid=135116632 |doi-access=free }}</ref> to primitive dental care in {{circa}} 10,900 [[Common Era|BCE]] (13,000 [[Before Present|BP]]) Riparo Fredian<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Riga A, Dori I, Vierin S, Boschian G, Tozzi C, Willman JC, Moggi-Cecchi J |date=2018 |title=At the upper Palaeolithic – Mesolithic boundary: revision of the human remains from Riparo Fredian (Molazzana, Lucca, Italy) |journal=Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=49–57 |doi=10.26382/AMQ.2018.04 }}</ref> (present-day Italy)<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Oxilia G, Fiorillo F, Boschin F, Boaretto E, Apicella SA, Matteucci C, Panetta D, Pistocchi R, Guerrini F, Margherita C, Andretta M, Sorrentino R, Boschian G, Arrighi S, Dori I, Mancuso G, Crezzini J, Riga A, Serrangeli MC, Vazzana A, Salvadori PA, Vandini M, Tozzi C, Moroni A, Feeney RN, Willman JC, Moggi-Cecchi J, Benazzi S | display-authors = 6 | title = The dawn of dentistry in the late upper Paleolithic: An early case of pathological intervention at Riparo Fredian | journal = American Journal of Physical Anthropology | volume = 163 | issue = 3 | pages = 446–461 | date = July 2017 | pmid = 28345756 | doi = 10.1002/ajpa.23216 | hdl = 11585/600517 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> and {{circa}} 7000 [[Common Era|BCE]] [[Mehrgarh]] (present-day [[Pakistan]]).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4882968.stm|title=Stone age man used dentist drill|date=6 April 2006|work=BBC News|access-date=5 March 2016|archive-date=5 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505223015/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4882968.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=2006 |title=Stone age 'proto-dentistry' revealed |journal=British Dental Journal |volume=200 |issue=8 |pages=425 |doi=10.1038/sj.bdj.4813555 |s2cid=52872714 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Anthropology]] is another academic branch that contributes to understanding prehistoric medicine in uncovering the sociocultural relationships, meaning, and interpretation of prehistoric evidence.<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Bhattacharya DK |date=2000 |title=Anthropology in Prehistoric Archaeology : The Indian Scene |journal=Journal of Human Ecology |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=23–31 |doi=10.1080/09709274.2000.11907528 |s2cid=133907414 }}</ref> The overlap of medicine as both a root to healing the body as well as the spiritual throughout prehistoric periods highlights the multiple purposes that healing practices and plants could potentially have.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/med/9780190272432.003.0019 |last1=Ferngren |first1=Gary B. |chapter=Medicine and Spirituality: A Historical Perspective |pages=305–324 |date=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-027243-2 |editor-last1=Balboni |editor-last2=Peteet |editor-first1=Michael |editor-first2=John |title=Spirituality and Religion Within the Culture of Medicine: From Evidence to Practice Get access Arrow }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Peoples HC, Duda P, Marlowe FW | title = Hunter-Gatherers and the Origins of Religion | journal = Human Nature | volume = 27 | issue = 3 | pages = 261–282 | date = September 2016 | pmid = 27154194 | pmc = 4958132 | doi = 10.1007/s12110-016-9260-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Koenig HG | title = Religion and medicine I: historical background and reasons for separation | journal = International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine | volume = 30 | issue = 4 | pages = 385–398 | date = 2000 | pmid = 11308040 | doi = 10.2190/2RWB-3AE1-M1E5-TVHK | s2cid = 6027802 }}</ref> From [[Evolutionary origin of religion|proto-religions]] to developed spiritual systems, relationships of humans and [[supernatural]] entities, from Gods to [[Shamanism|shamans]], have played an interwoven part in prehistoric medicine.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Virji MA, Cummings KJ, Cox-Ganser JM | title = A Strategy for Field Evaluations of Exposures and Respiratory Health of Workers at Small- to Medium-Sized Coffee Facilities | journal = Frontiers in Public Health | volume = 9 | issue = 5 | pages = 705225 | date = 2016 | pmid = 34858915 | doi = 10.3030/705225 | pmc = 8631862 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The archaeology of medicine and healthcare |date=2022 | vauthors = Sykes NJ, Shaw J |isbn=978-0-367-75924-7 |location=London |oclc=1287199643}}{{page needed|date=October 2023}}</ref>