Science
Related: About this forumScientists find medicinal plants caught in Neanderthal teeth
By Alan Boyle
Tooth scrapings from tens of thousands of years ago suggest that Neanderthals chewed on medicinal plants to soothe their upsets.
That's the conclusion drawn by an international team of researchers who conducted a chemical analysis on dental calculus from five sets of Neanderthal remains that were excavated inside El Sidron Cave in northern Spain. The calcified crud contained microscopic bits of plant material as well as chemicals associated with wood smoke.
The analysis indicated that the Neanderthals ate cooked plant food that was high in starch, and perhaps also nuts, grasses and green vegetables. One case was particularly intriguing: The scrapings from an individual known as Adult 4 contained chemicals known as azulenes and coumarins. Those are the sorts of chemicals that are found in yarrow and chamomile, two types of herbal remedies.
Yarrow is an astringent that's long been used to cleanse wounds when used externally, or counter internal bleeding when ingested. Chamomile may be best-known today as a soothing tea, but that's because it has a settling effect on colds, headaches, intestinal distress and menstrual cramping. Both plants have anti-inflammatory properties.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/18/12816708-scientists-find-medicinal-plants-caught-in-neanderthal-teeth
Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)You mean they didn't have pharmaceutical companies to supply them with their drugs?!?!?!
Shocking revelation!
n2doc
(47,953 posts)Warpy
(111,277 posts)However, since they were too smart to have invented the DEA, they probably died happy.
Rabid_Rabbit
(131 posts)dental floss yet
xchrom
(108,903 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)But, they charge us heavily for them....(still...they distilled and modified) to make them more effective and pallitable for the public.
Interesting times.
BTW: Cloves are the best for tooth pain. Dentists were using them even up until and through the 1960's early 70's.
Good stuff to read and very interesting.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)and then make your own oil, if you become unable to buy it.
WinstonSmith4740
(3,056 posts)Almost every drug (especially over the counter) on the market had its genesis in the herbal world.
Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)using medicinal herbs when feeling sick. The observation was that the plants were extremely bitter and the chimps acted like humans taking bitter tasting medicine. They were observed taking them during stomach upsets, and anyalysis of the plants revealed anti-parasitic properties.
I wish I remembered where I had read this. I think it may have been described by primatologist Frans de Waal.
So it looks like use of medicinal herbs goes way back, even to pre-human times.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)here's a link to a few articles.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2425567
Analysis of the mostly non-nutritional and sometimes slightly toxic foods consumed determined that most had medicinal properties. Based on the study, the chimpanzee medicine chest appears to include the following: Antiaris toxicaria leaves (anti-tumor), Cordia abyssinica pith (anti-malarial and anti-bacterial), Ficus capensis (anti-bacterial), Ficus natalensis bark (anti-diarrheal), Ficus urceolaris leaves (de-worming agent), and many more.
The primates seemed to strategically go for the medicinal parts of these plants, and would consume them even when other more nutritious and palatable foods were available.