Prehistoric Medicine: Exercise 2

Trephined Skulls and Aborigines

Created by Mr McDonald

Problems in History The prehistoric period of history is

a difficult era of history to analyse. The main problem lies in the fact

that the people who lived in this time left very little for us to examine.

Trephined Skulls We do know that

prehistoric people did perform operations.

One such operation is called Trephining

Trephined Skulls The fact that the skulls has growth

around the hole highlights the fact that some of the ‘patients’ survived for some considerable time.

But why did they do it?

Differing Historical Theories Some historians suggested that

they were for drinking vessels – how accurate is this assumption?

Not very, the fact that some skulls show signs of growth mean that it is unlikely.

Historical Theories Others used the evidence of bone

growth to suggest that it was done on children and that those who survived must have been viewed as having magical power.

Historical Theories More modern views on these skulls

have said that they were basic operations on skull injuries and also on people with bad headaches and epilepsy.

This is perhaps doubtful as identifying injury would have been difficult.

Historical Theories The most recent theories have

used the past theories and links with other groups of people.

Alongside the idea of an operation is the notion that it was intended to let out evil spirits from the body.

Do see the problem with the evidence? A lack of written evidence about

why such operations took place has meant that Historians have looked at more recent people to make links with the past.

Australian Aborigines Anthropologists in

the 19th and 20th century went to Australia to examine the Aborigine people.

These people had little to no contact with other people.

Australian Aborigines Aborigines lived in the harsh

conditions of the outback. They got their food by hunting and

by having a good knowledge of the plant life in the desert.

They had to be nomadic to be able to move from areas with water before they dried out.

They had no written language but many spoken ones

Task 1 Can you see any links between

the people of the prehistoric people and the Australian Aborigines?

Do you think this is why Anthropologists visited Australia?

The Spirit World Like many aspects of ancient

civilisations the Aborigine people had questions to ask and that mean answers had to be created.

Why did water appear in one area and not another?

Why and how was life created?

The Spirit World With no physical explanation the

Aborigine people used the notion of the spirit world as a reason for the many aspects of their lives.

Australian Aborigines using spiritual tools to help them in their harsh environment.

The spirit world and illness Task 2 In groups decide if you were an

aborigine what illnesses/injuries would you say were the domain for the spirits and which were probably ‘known’ to the Aborigine people (Think of three each).

Aborigine Medicine Wounds would be

covered in a clay or covered in animal fat. The wound would be covered and stop infection from spreading.

Aborigine Medicine Broken limbs

would be covered in clay that would harden under the strong sun and produce a natural cast.

What did you notice about these treatments Both involved injuries that would

be obvious to the Aborigine people. It would not therefore rely on the understanding of a spirit world.

Into the Spirit World When no obvious cause of an

illness could be found then the Aborigines would develop ideas based on the spirit world.

One idea was based on the notion that the body had been invaded by an evil spirit.

The Evil Spirit The treatment for such an illness

was to drive the spirit away from the body – could this be a link to an aspect of prehistoric medicine?

Of course the other type of spiritual injury would be when the person’s spirit had left the body.

A body but no spirit If the body had no spirit it may

have been due to it being captured by an enemy or it had left the body.

In both cases the treatment was to find the spirit!

For spiritual healings only a spiritual cure would work.