How Ancient Humans Survived Before Modern Medicine

For 300,000 years humans got sick, broke bones and gave birth with no antibiotics, no anaesthetic, no hospitals — and no idea that germs existed. They didn't all die. This is what was actually keeping them alive, and why the last part of the answer runs in the opposite direction from the one you're expecting. Sources referenced: Trinkaus & Villotte (2017) — hearing loss in Shanidar 1 Gurven & Kaplan (2007), Population and Development Review — hunter-gatherer mortality Kushner & Verano (2018), World Neurosurgery — Inca trepanation survival rates Wood et al. (1992), Current Anthropology — the osteological paradox Szreter (1988) on McKeown — what actually drove the mortality decline A question for you: if you could send one item from your bathroom cabinet back 40,000 years, which one would save the most lives? Not the coolest one — the one that would actually matter. Tell me below, and tell me why. #AncientHistory #HumanEvolution #Archaeology #MedicalHistory #Prehistory #Anthropology #HistoryFacts #ScienceExplained