CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA—Lorna Tilley and Marc Oxenham of Australian National University say that a 4,000-year-old skeleton uncovered in northern Vietnam shows that the prehistoric people of Man Bac cared for the sick and disabled among them. The person suffered from fused vertebrae and weak bones, and probably eventually became paralyzed from the waist down as the result of a congenital disease. This ancient skeleton is one of about 30 examples in the world of someone who received care from others in order to make survival possible. “The provision and receipt of health care may therefore reflect some of the most fundamental aspects of a culture,” they conclude.
Prehistoric People Cared for the Sick and Disabled
News December 23, 2012
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2024
Bronze Age Beads Go Abroad
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2024
Rubber Ball Recipe
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2024
Black Magic Seeds
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2024
A Friend for Hercules
-
Artifacts November/December 2012
Beaker Vessels
Ceramic beakers were the vessels of choice for the so-called “Black Drink” used at Cahokia by Native Americans in their purification rituals
-
Around the World November/December 2012
IDAHO
-
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2012
The Desert and the Dead
(Courtesy Bernardo Arriaza) -
Features November/December 2012
Zeugma After the Flood
New excavations continue to tell the story of an ancient city at the crossroads between east and west
(Hasan Yelken/Images & Stories)