Roman-era Shipwreck Reveals Ancient Medical Secrets

reply to post by boncho


reply to post by Variable


There a lot more variables to it than that.

Less Access to sanitation facilities

Less hospitals/Doctors

Less treatments for certain diseases.

More spreading of contagion diseases,plagues because of sanitation issues.

People exactly didn't have an easy life back in those days.

Many other i could probably think of but haven't formulated them yet.

Your stating things without looking at all the other different factors that existed back then.

And there are many...

reply to post by TheUniverse


However, Bronco does bring up an interesting aspect that I haven't been able to formulate into a conversation, nor gave much thought to until recently-when discussing Incas.... anyway.

The mortality rate of all, let alone males, was high back then. I think we can all agree there. Now, expand on that. What was the populations-of any era back then? Make up a number....

What we are told in our education is that the world was just beginning to emerge from the stone age times and BAM!!!! GIZA Pyramids suddenly appear or the Aztec or Mayans or Inca.... or PICK A RACE.

How in the hell could these societies gather up enough people to build the massive structures, or huge cities or other amazing things.... all the while fighting off death from every freaking direction. All the waring peoples, illnesses, short life expendencies etc etc etc.

For me, I just can't believe the current accept teachings of how long the human race... as we know it, hase been on this earth. Or our dating methods are flawed.

We just accept these things were just simply constructed by groups of peoples.... that didn't even have wheels-some of them. Hauling massive monolights hundreds of miles across hardcore terrain.

Okay, I am losing focus but I think you get the picture. WE have been here many of times over. And a lot longer than 5000, 10000, or 15000 years. I have come to believe and accept.

No so much Alien Tech involved. I have gotten away from that-mostly But definitely more intelligent... in other ways than we credit ourselves with.

Back on topic... I wonder what happened when a "doctor" came up with a cure? What the turn around time was on test patients? Who would be selected as test subjects. And, the rate of success.

reply to post by iMystery


It's sad how society has chosen to put chemicals in their bodies. Instead of using what is already available for us naturally. Some of the side effects of the chemicals we put in our bodies is scary. I enjoyed the original OP.

reply to post by PengyLuv


I concur with you on that to some degree.

I mean, some medicines that have been made with things other than naturally grown items just have to be but I think natural should be the first way to treat things-if time permits -of course.

The wife got all excited over this thread. She was fortunate enough to live in Greece for sometime and she seemed to really get in tune to the whole Med Trade routes and shipwrecks.

Glad you liked the thread.

reply to post by Variable


every-time i visit a old cemetery and find graves from the 1700 and 1800 era of 80-90 yr old
people i kinda question the whole we did not live very long in our past history
yeah alot of children died young but seems that the 40 yr lifespan i was taught in school was just one of the
misrepresentations of history how many things are we misled on??

reply to post by RUNSILENT


Indeed. When I did genealogical research on my family's history, I found that many of my ancestors whom came to the New World from the Old lived well in to old age. Most died in their late 60's. A few couples had even lived in to their 80's and 90's. Either that was a feat and a half for the 1600's several times over, or the mean age given in history books is a tad on the low side.

I think the article is just another insight into how close to modern times their medicines and treatments really were. Just because a medicine came from a vegetable doesn't mean it was any less useful. Aspirin is derived from White Willow bark, or at least it used to be before it was synthesized. I wonder how many everyday Joes/Josephines know that. Aspirin is a good example of an old herbal medicine being very worthwhile.

reply to post by Nyiah

genealogical research

Was this hard to do? I think it would be for me as ALL of my family is from Canada. Any hints or sites you would advise to use... or stay away from?

Thank you!

reply to post by anon72


I hate to say it, but Ancestry.com is a decent place to start, even if you decide to pay for a few months for more records access. Ellis Island and other points of immigration is equally valuable. If I had not cross-referenced family records with Ellis Island records, for example, I would not have been able to pinpoint which villages in Russia my 19th century ancestors came from. I have not yet checked Canadian immigration points yet, but I imagine I may have had a few come from Europe to the US through Canada, the long route isn't beyond anyone


I may have the era wrong, but didn't they have syringes by the first century as well? I'm still impressed & awed that people long ago were able to construct precise medical tools so closely to what we use now.

This will seem off-topic, but serves to show how intelligent our Ancestors were! A few years ago I began a research on the history of clothing and when I stumbled on the following, I understood fully how economics can lead to stupid things.

This is a safety pin, made to hold pieces of clothing. Look how strong it looks, and mostly, look how there is a loop to contain the pressure of compressed clothes.



And now, look what our brilliant minds have conceived for us, advanced modern man! So weak!



If we are being screwed by "our leaders", remember that this is only the tip of the iceberg...

If any of you were followers of the mini-series Rome, from a few years ago, you'll remember that one of the characters had to have part of his skull removed and replaced with a metal plate.

And here, again to show that humans, confronted to a problem, will come up with the same ideas as solutions, well, when they consider practicality over economics, is a link to the anciant Egyptian prosthetic.

Everything is ruled by a schizophrenic economy today, based on the works of a Beautiful Mind, also diagnosed with schizophrenia...

Over time however John begins to lose his grip on reality, eventually being institutionalized diagnosed with schizophrenia. As the depths of his imaginary world are revealed, Nash withdraws from society and it's not until the 1970s that he makes his first foray back into the world of academics, gradually returning to research and teaching. In 1994, John Nash was awarded the Nobel prize in Economics. Written by garykmcd

I always found that to be scary!

Ancient secrets are still secret, be it about mechanics or medicine or anything else you can think of. Today, we are served false, diluted technologies, or they make it turn around and around.

I'd say that mostly, human progresses of the last centuries have been about profit, not the well being of the human race. That was only a collateral happening. Back then, it served to threat the Elites and their court. It had to be efficient.

Great find, OP! I love to see such discoveries!