Prehistoric Medicine (pre-writing)

Prehistoric people were nomadic until around 10,000 BC
1. They were hunter-gatherers, travelling to find food rather than settling in one place.
2. The life expectancy was low - 19-25 years.
3. People began farming after 10,000 BC and life expectancy increased to 20-27
Prehistoric people died from disease they couldn't stop, infections from accidents, blood loss, warfare and occasional food shortages
They had mostly supernatural explanations for diseases.
1. They thought evil spirits could enter a persons body and become trapped, causing illness.
2. They thought people could curse each other with bad spirits that caused disease.
3. They thought diseases could be caused by people losing their own spirits - often because of a curse.
They received supernatural treatments or preventions from MEDICINE MEN.
1. Medicine Men would chant and dance to enter a trance to contact spirits to get rid of evil spirits.
2. Medicine Men would also give people charms to ward off evil spirits.
3. Medicine Men would carry out TREPHINING - boring a hole into the skull - to release evil spirits, using stone knives.
  1. Skulls have been found where the bone has grown back over the hole - this means the person survived.
  2. They didn't know it but this relieved pressure on the brain if a person had a tumour or water in the brain.
They also had natural treatments of illnesses and injuries, mostly provided by mothers or women.
1. Women passed down natural herbal remedies that were used to treat illnesses.
2. Natural injuries, such as from fighting or hunting, were treated using common sense.
  1. Mud was used to set broken bones and wooden splints were used to support them.

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Prehistoric Medicine (pre-writing)

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	Created by Emily Ball over 7 years ago