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The naturopathy of Neanderthals
The upper jawbone of a Neanderthal man from El Sidrón in Spain reveals: Our relative chewed poplar, a source of aspirin.
Woolly rhinoceros and painkillers
New analyzes not only prove that Neanderthals eat woolly rhinos, but that they treat painkillers and antibiotics. This is proven by her plaque.
Neanderthals often broke their bones - probably during big game hunting. (Nicolasprimola / fotolia.com) Neanderthal DNA
Scientists studied DNA on the plaque of five different Neanderthals from Spain, Belgium and Italy.
Oldest analyzed tartar
This plaque, between 42,000 and 50,000 years old, is the oldest ever genetically analyzed.
omnivores
He reveals that Neanderthals were omnivores. The Neanderthals from the Spy Cave ate mainly meat, as evidenced in the cave bones of mammoths, woolly rhinos, reindeer and horses. He also ate mushrooms, as the plaque analysis confirmed.
Vegetarian with mold
But the Neanderthals from Spain ate mainly nuts, mushrooms, moss and poplar. The tartar also pointed to mold fungus.
Dental abscess and parasites
One of El Sidrón's Neanderthals suffered from a tooth abscess and an internal parasite that caused diarrhea. This man treated himself.
Natural aspirin
His tartar contained debris from poplar, and this tree contains the analgesic salicylic acid, a natural building block of aspirin. Natural antibiotics were also found in the plaque, according to investigator Cooper, "40,000 years before we developed penicillin."
Yarrow and chamomile
As early as 2012, researchers around Karen Hardy from the University of Barcelona found out that Neanderthals who died 50,000 years ago had eaten yarrow and chamomile.
Conscious use of medicinal plants
Since these plants are not very nutritious and also taste bitter, the researchers suspected that the Neanderthals they targeted to cure disease.
The first known arm fracture
Diseases of Neanderthals have been researching for a long time: The 70,000 year old skeleton after which the species is named from the Neanderthal near Mettmann near Düsseldorf suffered from an arm fracture. The healed indeed, but the arm was shortened and was unnaturally angled to the body.
Dangerous big game hunt
Neanderthal skeletons often show fractures in the shoulder area, as we now know them from rodeo riders - from accidents involving barks and horses. Researchers conclude that hunting for large animals such as horses, aurochs or bison was a high risk for our relatives.
Healed fractures
However, the Neanderthals also proved to be particularly robust. This is how most of the broken bones healed. Most researchers also conclude that the Neanderthals treated the fractures.
Shamanism: the original form of medicine
Some anthropologists suggest that Neanderthals used shamanic techniques of healing, the oldest form of medicine and psychotherapy.
The evidence of medicinal plants in plaque also shows that their medical knowledge went beyond magic thinking.
It was not the placebo effect either.
Died Neanderthals at our diseases?
The Neanderthal man was so close to us that Homo Sapiens mingled with him, and today we carry Neanderthal genes in ourselves. This also made him vulnerable to diseases that Homo Sapiens brought with him when he immigrated to Europe from Africa and met the Neanderthal man there.
Disease reservoir Homo Sapiens
"People emigrating from Africa have probably been an important reservoir for tropical diseases," says researcher Charlotte Houldcroft.
No defense against our diseases
She continues: "For the Neanderthal populations in Eurasia, the confrontation with tropical diseases could have been catastrophic. Because her immune system had never been in contact with these diseases before, they were much more susceptible. "(Dr. Utz Anhalt)