Editing Acupuncture (section)

====Alternative theories====

The 5,000-year-old mummified body of [[Ötzi the Iceman]] was found with 15 groups of tattoos,<ref name=Dorfer-1999/> many of which were located at points on the body where acupuncture needles are used for abdominal or lower back problems. Evidence from the body suggests Ötzi had these conditions.<ref name="Porter 2013 p. 403"/> This has been cited as evidence that practices similar to acupuncture may have been practised elsewhere in [[Eurasia]] during the early [[Bronze Age]];<ref name=Dorfer-1999>{{cite journal | vauthors = Dorfer L, Moser M, Bahr F, Spindler K, Egarter-Vigl E, Giullén S, Dohr G, Kenner T | title = A medical report from the Stone Age? | journal = Lancet | volume = 354 | issue = 9183 | pages = 1023–25 | date = September 1999 | pmid = 10501382 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(98)12242-0 | s2cid = 29084491 | url = http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classicalarch/readings/Iceman_Tattoos.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100922184626/http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classicalarch/readings/Iceman_Tattoos.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 22 September 2010 }}</ref> however, ''The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine'' calls this theory "speculative".<ref name="Jackson 2011 p. 610">{{cite book | last=Jackson | first=M. | title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine | publisher=OUP Oxford | series=Oxford Handbooks in History | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-19-954649-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cpjgoazGIC4C&pg=PT610| page=610}}</ref> It is considered unlikely that acupuncture was practised before 2000&nbsp;BC.<ref name=Ramey/>

Acupuncture may have been practised during the [[Neolithic]] era, near the end of the [[Stone Age]], using sharpened stones called [[Bian Stones|Bian shi]].<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|70}} Many Chinese texts from later eras refer to sharp stones called "plen", which means "stone probe", that may have been used for acupuncture purposes.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|70}} The ancient Chinese medical text, Huangdi Neijing, indicates that sharp stones were believed at-the-time to cure illnesses at or near the body's surface, perhaps because of the short depth a stone could penetrate.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|71}} However, it is more likely that stones were used for other medical purposes, such as puncturing a growth to drain its [[pus]].<ref name=White-Ernst/><ref name="Porter 2013 p. 403"/> The ''[[Mawangdui]]'' texts, which are believed to be from the 2nd century BC, mention the use of pointed stones to open [[abscess]]es, and moxibustion, but not for acupuncture.<ref name="Prioreschi2004"/> It is also speculated that these stones may have been used for bloodletting, due to the ancient Chinese belief that illnesses were caused by demons within the body that could be killed or released.<ref name="Singh Ernst 2008 p. 42">{{cite book | vauthors=Singh S, Ernst E | title=Trick Or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine | publisher=W. W. Norton | series=Norton paperback | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-393-06661-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5m6CKTEr3I0C&pg=PA42 | page=42 | access-date=27 January 2016 | archive-date=4 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204181954/https://books.google.com/books?id=5m6CKTEr3I0C&pg=PA42 | url-status=live }}</ref> It is likely bloodletting was an antecedent to acupuncture.<ref name="Porter 2013 p. 403"/>

According to historians [[Lu Gwei-djen]] and [[Joseph Needham]], there is substantial evidence that acupuncture may have begun around 600&nbsp;BC.<ref name="abc"/> Some hieroglyphs and [[Pictogram|pictographs]] from that era suggests acupuncture and moxibustion were practised.<ref name="Robson">{{cite book | last = Robson | first = T | title = An Introduction to Complementary Medicine | isbn = 978-1741140545 | year = 2004 | publisher = [[Allen & Unwin]] | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6oa37ZyTxEC&pg=PA90 | page = 90 }}</ref> However, historians Lu and Needham said it was unlikely a needle could be made out of the materials available in China during this time period.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|71–72}} It is possible that [[bronze]] was used for early acupuncture needles. Tin, copper, gold and silver are also possibilities, though they are considered less likely, or to have been used in fewer cases.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|69}} If acupuncture was practised during the [[Shang dynasty]] (1766 to 1122&nbsp;BC), organic materials like thorns, sharpened bones, or bamboo may have been used.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|70}} Once methods for producing steel were discovered, it would replace all other materials, since it could be used to create a very fine, but sturdy needle.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|74}} Lu and Needham noted that all the ancient materials that could have been used for acupuncture and which often produce archaeological evidence, such as sharpened bones, bamboo or stones, were also used for other purposes.<ref name="abc"/> An article in ''Rheumatology'' said that the absence of any mention of acupuncture in documents found in the tomb of [[Mawangdui]] from 198&nbsp;BC suggest that acupuncture was not practised by that time.<ref name=White-Ernst/>