A study led by researchers from the University of Adelaide and the University of Liverpool has turned up evidence that suggests some Neanderthals used "plant-based medicine to treat pain and illness."
A study led by researchers from the University of Adelaide and the University of Liverpool has turned up evidence that suggests some Neanderthals used "plant-based medicine to treat pain and illness."
The team discovered this by examining dental plaque taken from four specimens discovered in Belgium and Spain.
Researchers found one of them had been eating poplar root, a source of aspirin’s active ingredient salicylic acid, and had ingested an antibiotic mold.
That individual also showed signs of having suffered from a tooth abscess and, due to an intestinal parasite, diarrhea.
Alan Cooper, one of the researchers, said, “Apparently, Neandertals possessed a good knowledge of medicinal plants and their various anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, and seem to be self-medicating. The use of antibiotics would be very surprising, as this is more than 40,000 years before we developed penicillin. Certainly our findings contrast markedly with the rather simplistic view of our ancient relatives in popular imagination.”
