ANATOMY AND MEDICINE the story of ancient Chinese medicine

purposes, some still in use such as cocaine, and products of animal origin date, according to several anthropologists, to the Paleolithic period. The Neolithic period is associated with the first discovery of trepanned skulls , that is, skulls with a fully perforated skull wall , leading us to think about the significant anatomical knowledge held by these peoples. This ritual was performed as a treatment for diseases, attributed to the presence of demons, where the hole in the skull, left open, served as an exit door for them . In addition to trepanation, other surgical interventions, such as the amputation of fingers or phalanges, occurred during this period, in geographically distant locations (Sousa, 1981). The formation of civilizations, that is, self-sufficient and organized urban societies , came in response to a set of complex climatic and geographical factors . The first civilizations are considered to have developed in a time span between the years 3500 to 1500 BC, in few and well- defined areas of the world, along the banks of rivers. Mesopotamia was one of those regions, it was a place in the Middle East between the valleys of two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, inserted in the area of the Fertile Crescent, present territories of Israel, Jordan and Lebanon as well as parts of Syria , Iraq , from Egypt , southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran . The people of Mesopotamia were the first to learn to write, leaving the day the oldest text of medicine, the board Sumerian from Nippur, with prescriptions originating from the year 3000 BC In this board, and other idem are described various drugs of animal, vegetable and mineral origin and some pharmaceutical forms. In addition to the use of drug therapy in Mesopotamia also be performed some surgery to abscesses and cataracts (Magner, 2005), (Pita, 1998).



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