Prehistoric notes

Background Information

 Prehistoric man lived in nomadic lives

 They were hunter-gathers, they didn’t grow crops

 They left no written records, historians rely on archaeological evidence which may be hard to interpret

 One way round the problem of evidence for prehistoric medicine is to study people who, until very 

recently, lived in a similar way to prehistoric man. For example, Australian aborigines and Plains Indians

What did prehistoric people die from?

 Warfare

 Pregnancy and childbirth

 Infection

 Famine and food shortages

Using aboriginal cultures to find out about prehistoric medicine

 Attitudes and practises of modern aborigines are used in guessing what ancient people did.

 Some modern aboriginal medicine combines basic practical methods like settle broken bones and 

bandaging with spiritual explanations of illness and cure.

 Witch doctors, shamans and medicine men are credited with the ability to cure and inflict illness.

 Warding off…