Name:
Medicine
Through
Time
Prehistoric
Medicine
Yellow
Welcome to Prehistory
KEY QUESTIONS
1. What can the bones and bodies of prehistoric people tell us
about their health and diseases?
2. Can we discover how they treated diseases from the
condition of their bones and bodies?
3. Until the 19th century some groups in the world still lived a
prehistoric lifestyle. Can studying them tell us anything
about prehistoric health?
KEY WORDS – Write out the meaning of the following words:
Prehistory (p.6)
Archaeologist (p.7)
Trephination (p.8)
Supernatural
When someone believes an illness has been
caused by God (or gods) and they would try to get a
supernatural cure.
TIMELINE: - What happened at the times below: (p.6)
150,000 B.C.
10,000 B.C.
8,000 B.C.
TASK 1
Were people healthy during the
Stone Age?
Read page 7 and copy the chart
into your exercise book.
Complete the chart using bullet
points.
2
Archaeological evidence
How useful are bones and bodies as evidence about prehistoric
medicine?
Bones, for example, can provide
valuable information about health
and medicine in prehistory.
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A trepanned skull with holes bored
into it shows brains were
sometimes operated on.
Some diseases show up in
deformed bones.
The bones of children show that
many died young.
Teeth were healthy shut ground
down by grit in bread.
A prehistoric thigh bone which has
been deformed by disease.
By studying the lifestyles of modern
prehistoric people archaeologists can
suggest what might have happened in the
past. This study of different people comparing
how they live is called anthropology.
A Trepanned skull from the Bronze
Age. About 2000 years ago.
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Cave paintings
How useful are cave paintings in helping historians find out about
prehistoric medicine?
Task 2
Read Source B on page 9 of the textbook.
 Write out how Margotta describes the painting above the
picture.
 Explain why the Medicine Man would wear this mask on the
left of the picture.
 Describe the treatments offered by the Medicine Man on the
right of the picture.
 Describe the type of surgery carried out by the Medicine Man
at the bottom of the picture.
What are the limitations of using only
archaeological evidence to find out about
prehistoric medicine?
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The Aborigines
How can the Aborigines help historians to find out about prehistoric
medicine?
TASK 3
Answer questions 1 – 3 on page 11.
Could you treat a
prehistoric person?
Read the 4 case studies below and decide
how a medicine man might treat them.
Homework
Task
1
Problem solving
Problem 1
Several members of the group have returned from hunting. One man has
fallen and broken his arm; a second man has a deep cut on his thigh.
Explain how you would treat each of these injuries.
Problem 2
A woman in your group has complained of severe pains in the head. These
pains are accompanied by being physically sick. You must suggest a
treatment and try to explain what might be the cause of disease.
Problem 3
The man who has been the leader of your group suddenly crashes to the
ground and puts his hand over his chest as if he is in great pain. How
would you deal with this sudden illness?
Problem 4
A small child has severe diarrhoea. What should you give them?
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How healthy were people in
prehistoric Britain?
Homework
Task
2
The details in the seven boxes below have been discovered
by examining the bones of prehistoric people in Britain.
Underline or highlight the following information.
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The percentage of people who died from accidents.
The group which had the highest death rate.
How we know their settlement was a peaceful place.
Why women died younger than men.
Why their ankle bones were unusual.
Why their teeth were ground down and there was little decay.
Why they suffered from osteoarthritis.
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Exam Tip
1. There is clear evidence that prehistoric people carried out surgery.
2. There is no written evidence about prehistoric peoples’ beliefs – and
their ideas are open to historians’ interpretations.
Exam question
Source A
1.
Level
Level
Level
Level
A trephinned skull.
Why was the treatment shown in Source A used by
prehistoric people? Use the source and your
knowledge to explain your answer. (5 marks)
1
2
3
4
General answer; no specific knowledge (1 mark)
Answers identify trephinning, but don’t explain it. (2 marks)
Explains how trephinning was meant to work. (3 – 4 marks)
Explains trephinning against the background of supernatural
medicine. (5 marks)
Source B.
An American Indian medicine man.
2.
Homework Task
Exam question
What can you learn about medicine in prehistoric times
from Source B? Use the source and your own knowledge
to explain your answer.
(5 marks)
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Prehistoric
Medicine
KEY POINTS
What was life like for prehistoric people?
 They were nomadic.
 They were hunter - gatherers – they got their food without
farming.
 They lived in small groups.
 They had a simple level of technology e.g. spears.
 They had no system of writing.
How can historians find out how prehistoric people lived if they left no
written records?
 Prehistoric people did leave some evidence e.g. cave paintings
 The bones of prehistoric people remain and these reveal a lot
about their diseases and treatments.
 Prehistoric tribes still exist in the world, so historians can try to
understand their beliefs.
What did people die from?
Prehistoric people died from:
 Diseases could not be stopped from spreading amongst babies
and young children before they built up resistance to them.
 Infections from everyday accidents like cut fingers turned septic
and people died from blood poisoning. Nor could they stop deep
cuts from bleeding.
 Food shortages, famines and poor diet contributed to death or
poor health.
What are the problems with archaeological evidence?
 Skeletons only provide some of the answers, not all of them;
 Skeletons on the site might not represent all ages and some
skulls could come from enemies which have been kept as
trophies.
 Few sites contain human bones.
 Some bones may be damaged during the excavation.
How did prehistoric people deal with injuries and health problems?
 They used
practical treatments if they knew how an
injury happened e.g. a broken arm.
knowledge of the
environment to cure common health problems e.g.
 They used their
dysentery.
medicine man to deal with the spirits
 They called on the
if the problem seemed supernatural.
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