Poppies for insomnia. Cannabis for mental health. Cayenne pepper for headaches. Throughout history, we have treated our health problems in a wide variety of ways. This ranged from sweat baths to surgery to cannibalism. Ancient people thought about medicine, disease, and health in diverse ways and that could look different depending on the place and time. Some of these practices died off, while others made it across oceans and persist to this day. One of my favorite things to learn about is the history of medicine, so, in a series of posts, I'm going to take you on a grand tour across time and space to learn all about how people in the past treated health problems. Medical Thought in the Ancient WorldPlants have long been harnessed to treat a variety of health problems. The opium poppy was widely used across the Mediterranean, including Ancient Greece. This plant was smoked, toasted, ground up, or made into drinks, and was used as an anesthetic, hallucinogenic, and narcotic to treat pain and insomnia. Ancient Greek texts make many mentions of this plant. Medical treatises, such as those written by well-known physician Hippocrates, describe the variety of ways to prepare the poppy. Homer’s epic poem The Iliad mentions the plant: ...as when a poppy in the garden drops its head to one side, weighed down with its fruit or with the spring rain, so his head fell to one side under the helmet’s burden...In ancient Crete and across the Eastern Mediterranean, poppies were not only an important medicine but a powerful symbol of immortality, fertility, wealth, and healing. Archaeologists working across Greece have recovered artifacts like brooches, hairpins, rings, figurines, and jars depicting a Minoan “goddess of poppies.” Poppy imagery was also closely associated with Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. These ancient depictions reveal how important poppy and its byproducts were to ancient Mediterranean life, and also shows how closely related medicine, ritual, and spirituality were in antiquity. This is a good time to mention that as we take this journey through history people in the past treated illness in a way that made sense in their own time and place. While ancient people didn’t have microscopes or high-tech laboratories, we know they were knowledgeable and interested in learning about the human body and how to treat its ailments. In fact, ancient medical practitioners in Egypt had a vast knowledge of anatomy, chemistry, physiology, and botany and were able to accurately diagnose illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disorders. Luckily for archaeologists, ancient Egyptian physicians recorded their knowledge on papyri, some of which still survive today. These documents reveal how ancient Egyptians, in many cases, treated illness with a combination of medicine, surgery, and magic. One important document is the Ebers Papyrus, which dates to 1550 BCE. This papyrus describes over 300 medicinal ingredients, many of which are plants, and instructions to make nearly 900 concoctions. The Ebers Papyrus describes the vascular system and outlines treatments for migraines as well as cardiovascular, gynecological, ophthalmological, and dermatological disorders. Other papyri describe diseases like guinea worm disease, schistosomiasis, and malaria, marking some of the earliest descriptions of these infections. In the Ancient Mediterranean world, a guiding medical concept was the “four humors.” Developed in the writings of the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, the “four humours” were based on the even more ancient concept of the “four elements”: air, earth, fire, and water. The four humours refer to four bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Hippocrates, and his followers, such as his fellow Ancient Greek physician Galen, believed that all ailments were caused by an imbalance between the humans. Treatments were used to restore balance and order to the body. This concept and its treatments gained popularity centuries after it was first written down, but more on that later :) Archaeological clues about treatments to ancient health problems extend beyond the Mediterranean. Archaeological evidence of cannabis, otherwise known as the devil's lettuce, from across Asia has been dated to as old as 6,000 years. Some of the oldest known evidence of this plant comes from China. Cannabis was used in a variety of ways–its strong fibers were made into fabrics, rope, and paper. Its oily seeds were eaten as a nutritious grain. And! It was used as a medicine. Historically across East Asia, cannabis was smoked, especially as part of ritual and religious practices. Based on archaeological evidence, people in western China smoked cannabis as long as 2,500 years ago. In addition to smoking the leaves, people used the fruit, roots, and leaves to treat pain, coughs, insomnia, mental illness, and muscle spasms. Archaeologists working in multiple sites across East and Central Asia have recovered evidence of cannabis use. In Xi’an, China, archaeologists analyzed pollen grains from pottery at a Neolithic site. They found pollen grains that were likely deposited by a cannabis plant. At the Yanghai Tombs near Turpan, China, the burial site of a shaman revealed a cache of well-preserved, 2,700-year-old cannabis. In ancient North America, one of the most important medicinal plants was tobacco. In fact, tobacco is one of the oldest domesticated plants in the Americas–even older than corn. Tobacco was likely first used by the Maya in Central America, but by the 13th century, the use of tobacco was widespread across the Americas. In the late 1400s, the Taino, the Indigenous people of what is now Puerto Rico, introduced the plant to Columbus. Tobacco was used for different purposes in different places. In Venezuela, tobacco was used as a toothpaste. In Mexico, tobacco leaves were applied topically to cuts and burns. Perhaps the most well-known way to use tobacco is to smoke it. At a site in ancestral Nez Perce territory in southeastern Washington state, archaeologists have recovered some of the oldest evidence for smoking tobacco. A team of archaeologists conducted biomolecular analysis on residues from the inside of pipes and pipe fragments and found that hunter-gatherer communities smoked tobacco at least 1,200 years ago. Tobacco, along with sweetgrass, sage, and cedar, is still considered a sacred medicine by many Indigenous communities today, and the use of tobacco is experiencing a modern resurgence. Plants were not the only medicinal treatments in the ancient world. Across Central and South America, people built sweat baths to treat a variety of ailments. Much like a sauna, sweat baths were thought to help maladies like coughs, muscle aches, stiffness, skin conditions, fevers, and broken bones. Based on archaeological and historical data, herbal remedies were likely taken at sweat baths to enhance the healing properties. At a Classical Maya site in Guatemala, archaeologists excavated an approximately 1,500 year old central marketplace which includes a series of stone sweat baths. They conducted pollen analysis on artifacts and human teeth from the site, and found evidence of pollen grains from the sunflower family alongside traces of pine resin, which were used to treat toothaches. Macrobotanical analysis revealed evening primrose, which was used to treat infection and inflammation, as well as peppers, which were used to treat respiratory conditions. The archaeologists argue that these plants were given in conjunction with steam from the sweat baths as a healing treatment. Did you know that there is archaeological evidence of ancient neurosurgery from every continent except Antarctica? A practice called trepanning, which is when a physician makes a hole in the skull of a living person, was actually pretty common across the world. Trepanning was generally used as a treatment for headaches, epilepsy, skull fractures, and mental illness. The practice of trepanning can be readily seen in archaeological records–holes in skulls are good evidence. But how effective was it? Archaeologists working at archaeological burial sites near Cuzco, Peru, conducted a survey of the remains of 66 individuals with trepanning holes and found that 83% of them survived their surgery. They also found that the surgeons sharpened their skills, as survival rates increased over time. Ancient Andean neurosurgeons were extremely knowledgeable about human anatomy–almost 3,000 years ago, they were able to avoid damaging certain areas of the brain that they knew would inflict irreparable damage. That's all for now, but stay tuned for more!!! I still have so much to tell you!!! This blog post was partially adapted from a YouTube video I wrote with Smiti Nathan for her channel @smitinathan.
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Al Capone, Friedrich Nietzsche, Leo Tolstoy, James Joyce, and Vladimir Lenin–what do these people have in common? They all suffered from syphilis. As one of the most feared diseases in existence, syphilis has caused immense suffering for thousands of years. Shakespeare even called syphilis “the infinite malady,” referencing the deep and terrible history of the disease. While archaeologists study many different infectious diseases that have caused epidemics over the years, syphilis is particularly interesting. Why? Because it leaves behind striking archaeological clues about the disease and it’s impact on society. Syphilis is caused by a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called Treponema pallidum. Syphilis is primarily a sexually transmitted disease, but it can also be congenital, meaning it can be passed to a fetus during pregnancy, leading to a child being born with a syphilis infection. Historically nicknamed “The Great Pretender,” syphilis mimics the symptoms of many other infectious diseases, which can make it hard to diagnose or confuse with other illnesses. There are three main stages of syphilis infection–primary, secondary, and tertiary. Each stage has a characteristic set of symptoms. The most notable symptoms of primary and secondary stage syphilis are sores in the mouth or genital area and a rash across the body, especially on the face, hands, and feet. Tertiary stage syphilis is notoriously painful and debilitating, causing severe damage to the skin, brain, heart, and spinal column, which can lead to paralysis, tumor-like growths, dementia, organ failure, and in many cases, death. Secondary and tertiary syphilis can infect the bone–especially the tibia, sternum, clavicles, and skull. The infection creates holes, making the bone look moth-eaten. This usually leads to severe pain, as well as neurological symptoms like confusion, memory loss, and personality changes. The lesions and marks on the bones are still visible, even after hundreds or thousands of years, making it one of the best archaeological clues we have for syphilis. The characteristic patterns syphilis can leave on bones provide us with information we would likely otherwise not know. First off, bones are one of the best clues to help us figure out where syphilis came from. There is a lot of scientific debate surrounding the early origins of syphilis. The leading hypothesis is that syphilis originated in the Americas, and then spread to Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa via colonization in the 1400s and 1500s. Some scholars argue that it was already present in Europe prior to colonization, but others believe that historical descriptions of syphilis-like cases from before the 1490s were actually leprosy. Archaeologists have investigated this mystery by studying skeletal remains. Some of the earliest evidence of syphilis was recovered from a cave in Brazil. A team of researchers found the remains of a child who died about 9,400 years ago. Based on the marks on this child’s bones, they likely suffered from congenital syphilis. This study is important because it shows that syphilis has existed in the Americas for at least 10,000 years. In addition to bones, historical records can also provide clues about the origins of syphilis. The first recorded epidemic of syphilis in Europe occurred among soldiers in the French army when Charles VIII invaded Naples in 1495. Early outbreaks were extremely infectious, particularly deadly, and often associated with warfare. A Venetian doctor wrote of this new illness: “Through sexual contact, an ailment which is new or at least unknown to previous doctors, the French sickness has worked its way in from the west to the spot as I write. The entire body is so repulsive to look at and the suffering is so great, especially at night, that this sickness is even more horrifying than incurable leprosy or elephantiasis and it can be fatal.”Clues from the historical records also show us that 15th century Europeans tended to blame the sudden emergence of this disease on their political enemies–for example, it was known as “the French sickness” in England, Italy, and Germany, while it was the “Polish disease” in Russia, and the “Christian Disease” in Turkey. The modern name “syphilis” comes from an epic poem written by an Italian scholar in the early 16th century, but didn’t become widely accepted until the early 18th century. Throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, syphilis outbreaks terrorized Europe. We have clues about this from a few places. Archaeologists working at a cemetery associated with a monastic hospital in Eastern Iceland have found evidence of an outbreak of syphilis between the years of 1496 and 1554. This finding was significant because it shows how transmissible syphilis is–even somewhere as isolated as Iceland suffered from deadly epidemics. In England, between the years of 1773 and 1776, almost 30% of people admitted to London’s hospitals were victims of sexually transmitted infections, particularly syphilis. In Bologna, Italy, archaeologists studied skeletal remains from a late Medieval period Jewish cemetery and found about 400 individuals with the bone damage associated with tertiary stage syphilis. At this period in history, Jewish people were largely marginalized from mainstream European society, and researchers believe this outbreak may have worsened prejudices against this community. From Europe, syphilis spread to Asia and Africa. While sites across Asia and Africa are largely understudied in terms of the archaeology of infectious diseases, a team of researchers working near Seoul, South Korea identified a case of tertiary-stage syphilis from skeletal remains dating to the mid-1800s. This study provides important clues about the spread of this disease across the world. While syphilis was causing epidemics across Europe, Asia, and Africa, it persisted in the Americas. Archaeologists working at a 17th century cemetery in Mexico City extracted three different strains of the bacterium that causes syphilis, marking an important step in understanding the evolutionary history of this disease. In the early 1900s, syphilis posed a serious problem for military personnel during World War I. Prevention campaigns were specifically targeted to soldiers in the war. Sexually transmitted infections, including syphilis, were some of the leading reasons U.S. soldiers were medically discharged. The U.S. government funneled money into anti-prostitution laws, attempting to mitigate the spread of the sexually transmitted infection. As the U.S. secretary of war proposed in 1918: “Ten miles from any military camp, station, fort… within which it shall be unlawful to engage in prostitution or to aid or abet prostitution or to procure or solicit for purposes of prostitution, or to keep or set up a house of ill fame, brothel, or bawdy house, or to receive any person purposes of lewdness.”While the syphilis’s history is quite grim, luckily, it is now successfully treatable. Since the disease is caused by a bacterial infection, it can be effectively treated with antibiotics. However, before the invention of Penicillin in the 1940s, people treated syphilis in a variety of ways, many of which were actually pretty dangerous, and probably didn’t do much to help. A big part of syphilis’ archaeological trail is not just the disease itself, but how people tried to treat it throughout history. In fact, certain historical treatments made the illness worse, in most cases. From the 16th century through the early 19th century in England, there was one particular treatment that was widely accepted and commonplace. Typically, patients would take compounds of this treatment orally or as an injection, and treatment would last for weeks to months. Sometimes, people would rub this treatment directly onto the infected areas of their body, including their genitals. Unfortunately, this treatment turned out to be extremely toxic, and caused severe side effects including tremors, muscle spasms, headaches, kidney damage, insomnia, exhaustions, and a host of other symptoms. That treatment was mercury. Archaeologists can trace the use of mercury as a syphilis treatment by studying the most reliable syphilis archaeological clue - bones. When it comes to bones, studies conducted across Europe have shown that mercury persists in bone long after an individual has died, and this can be a useful way of understanding medical practices. But there's another clue: to find out more, let’s go to Denmark. Here, archaeologists measured the amounts of mercury in the soil from a medieval cemetery and found that 40% of syphilis cases were treated with this toxic metal. They also found that the monks who cared for sick patients experienced mercury poisoning. Similarly, at a medieval cemetery in Poland, archaeologists found that two women were likely treated with mercury, based on the high levels of it in their bones. So bones and soil work together to help up us locate mercury in the archaeological record. The archaeology of syphilis is deeply interwoven with the history of classism, misogyny, and racism. Syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases have been extremely stigmatized. Especially since the 1800s, people who suffered from syphilis have been seen as “unclean,” especially those who were marginalized by society, like women, people of color, and people of low economic status. Sexually transmitted diseases were also believed to only infect people who were “immoral,” or led sinful lives. Unfortunately, the long-term effects of this can still be felt today–scientists have shown that STI testing and treatment is still inaccessible to communities across the world, especially those who experience social and economic marginalization. Throughout history, the spread of sexually transmitted infections were commonly blamed on women and we have some clear clues indicating this. As you can see by some of these posters from the early and mid-1900s, men were encouraged to stay away from “loose women” who were perceived as the main source of syphilis, even though women are no more likely to spread syphilis or any other disease than people of other genders. In fact, the association between women and sexually transmitted infections was the origin of the now outdated term “venereal disease”: the root of “venereal” comes from the name of the goddess of love herself, Venus. It was often said that a rendezvous with Venus came with the risk of coming down with a nasty infection. This, along with the use of mercury to treat syphilis, gave rise to a 19th century saying: “a night with Venus, and a lifetime with mercury.” The historical blame of women has perpetuated stigmas and stereotypes that unfortunately still persist to this day. And you can’t really talk about syphilis without talking about one of the most egregious instances of medical abuse in history, which took place for 40 years between 1932 and 1972 in Macon, Alabama. In what is now known as the “U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee,” researchers conducted an unethical study of the effects of untreated syphilis on a group of Black men. The researchers did not receive informed consent from the people they were studying, and did not offer them treatment, even after penicillin was introduced in 1942. In 1972, when the human rights violation that was this study came to light, the researchers were rightfully criticized. They were reviewed by a panel, which wrote that the study was, quote, “ethically unjustified” and that, quote, “results [were] disproportionately meager compared with known risks to human subjects involved.” The fact that these men were Black and poor is significant. The researchers running the Tueskegee study targeted people of color because they mistakenly believed that non-white people were more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases. In 1973, class action lawsuits were filed on behalf of the men who suffered from untreated syphilis and their families. The Tuskegee study is routinely cited as a major impetus for the development of informed consent, and its legacy can still be felt today. Since penicillin was introduced as an effective treatment for syphilis, overall cases have significantly dropped. However, over the past 20 or so years, cases have actually started to climb. According to the CDC, there were 176,713 reported cases of syphilis in the United States in 2021. That’s up from 5,979 reported in 2000, and 13,774 reported in 2010. Syphilis has had a long history that has left behind archaeological clues of its origin, spread, and severity; however, even with learning more about it’s past and present, it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon in the future. Where Can I Go to Get Tested For STDs? | Testing Center Info Which STD Tests Should I Get? | Prevention | STDs | CDC What is Syphilis? This blog post was partially adapted from a YouTube video I wrote with Smiti Nathan for her channel @smitinathan.
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