Medicinal plant use
Uso de plantas medicinales (automedicación)
- Date
- c. 50 ka · confidence medium
- Place
- El Sidrón Cave, Asturias, Spain
- Credited to
- Neanderthals
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Dental calculus containing traces of yarrow and chamomile (bitter plants with no nutritional value) and, in one individual with an abscess, poplar bark containing salicylic acid. The earliest documented pharmacopoeia.
Medicinal versus culinary interpretation remains debated; the flower burial at Shanidar IV is now attributed to rodents.
What it led to
- Ethnobotanical knowledge passed down orally
- The role of the healer: social specialisation
- The origin of pharmacology and plant-based remedies
Built on
- Long-term care of the injuredc. 50 ka
- Long-term care of the injured