Radical remedies

Prehistoric health

Prehistoric people believed that pain and disease originated outside the body, not just from injuries but also from evil spirits. Witch doctors and shamans were usually employed to exorcise malevolent beings. If the witch doctor failed, prehistoric man had a backup plan known as “trepanation.”

Today, when we say, “He must have a hole in his head,” it is a derisory comment for someone who is mentally ill. In prehistoric times, however, having a hole in your head was the equivalent of taking a paracetamol and having a nap. Trepanation involved cutting a small hole in the skull and was used to treat headaches, skull fractures, epilepsy, and some forms of mental illness. The method is known to have been used in north Africa, Asia, Tahiti, New Zealand, South America, neolithic Gaul, and Bohemia. But it was most …