Write 4 pages with APA style on Early Medical Practices in the Neolithic Period.

Write 4 pages with APA style on Early Medical Practices in the Neolithic Period. The objectives are to conduct a visual survey and then a targeted analysis looking for narcotic or other chemical traces, and to interpret the remains holistically including any new evidence found. Literature review There is a very extensive literature on the burial practices of Neolithic peoples, (Thomas, 1999) and indeed excavations of burial sites, especially in Egypt but also across Europe and in the Americas provide the largest sources of human bone material for analysis. The form of deposition human remains is, however, not without its problems because the bones are subjected to various processes ranging from burning, to de-fleshing, selected preservation of only parts of the body, and mummification. Various kinds of positioning in different types of ground leave traces on the bones which add layers of complication to scientific analysis. Incomplete samples survive, with uneven distribution due to geological rather than historical variation, which makes it difficult to form a complete picture. There are some Neolithic bone samples which show evidence of healing, but it is not certain that this is a result of medical intervention. The large number of trephined skulls found in Europe in Neolithic deposits, and somewhat later also in Peru, is however, incontrovertible evidence of medical activity (Ackerknecht, 1968, p. 8). McKenzie (1936, p. 895) theorizes that the purpose of scraping a hole in the skull was to cure giddiness or epilepsy but it is unclear what evidence can be drawn to point to this conclusion, other than that no trauma is evident in the bones, which could otherwise explain the hole.