Featured Title:
Stone Lord: The Legend Of King Arthur, The Era Of Stonehenge by J P Reedman |
 |
| Solving Stonehenge, the new key to an ancient enigma |
 |
| Login |
|
Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like your own home page, fewer ads, and your contributions link to your page. |
| Who's Online |
There are currently, 125 guests and 2 members online.
You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here |
| |
Moderated by : Andy B , TimPrevett , Klingon , sem , MickM , TheCaptain , bat400 , coldrum , davidmorgan , Runemage , SolarMegalith
The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map : Index >>
General Forum >> 2000-year-old pills found in Greek shipwreck
|
 |
| Author |
2000-year-old pills found in Greek shipwreck |
bat400
Joined:
10-04-2006
Messages: 1333
from South Central Indiana, US
 OFF-Line
|  Posted 28-09-2010 at 04:53
Submitted by coldrum --
In 130 BC, a ship fashioned from the wood of walnut trees and bulging with medicines and Syrian glassware sank off the coast of Tuscany, Italy. Archaeologists found its precious load 20 years ago and now, for the first time, archaeobotanists have been able to examine and analyse pills that were prepared by the physicians of ancient Greece.
DNA analyses show that each millennia-old tablet is a mixture of more than 10 different plant extracts, from hibiscus to celery.
"For the first time, we have physical evidence of what we have in writing from the ancient Greek physicians Dioscorides and Galen," says Alain Touwaide of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.
The box of pills was discovered on the wreck in 1989, with much of the medicine still completely dry, according to Robert Fleischer of the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, also in Washington DC.
Fleischer analysed DNA fragments in two of the pills and compared the sequences to the GenBank genetic database maintained by the US National Institutes of Health. He was able to identify carrot, radish, celery, wild onion, oak, cabbage, alfalfa and yarrow. He also found hibiscus extract, probably imported from east Asia or the lands of present-day India or Ethiopia.
"Most of these plants are known to have been used by the ancients to treat sick people," says Fleischer. Yarrow staunched the flow of blood from wounds, and Pedanius Dioscorides, a physician and pharmacologist in Rome in the first century AD, described the carrot as a panacea for a number of problems. "They say that reptiles do not harm people who have taken it in advance; it also aids conception," he wrote around 60 AD.
The concoctions have also thrown archaeobotanists a few curve balls. Preliminary analyses of the ancient pills suggest they contain sunflower, a plant that is not thought to have existed in the Old World before Europeans discovered the Americas in the 1400s. If the finding is confirmed, botanists may need to revise the traditional history of the plant and its diffusion, says Touwaide – but it's impossible for now to be sure that the sunflower in the pills isn't simply from recent contamination.
For more, see http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19436-2000yearold-pills-found-in-greek-shipwreck.html
 Profile
 Reply
|
Aluta
Joined:
06-04-2002
Messages: 1534
from PA, USA
OFF-Line
| Posted 28-09-2010 at 12:34
That's funny about the sunflower.
Profile
Reply
|
Runemage
Joined:
15-07-2005
Messages: 2412
from UK
OFF-Line
| Posted 29-09-2010 at 13:43
I thought that too, Aluta. Who would open a container of pills, preserved for 2,000 years in an environment that's not free from contaminants?
Always interesting to see the cerebral reasoning process at work when unexpected results are found 
Yarrow for staunching blood flow would be a topical application.
Taking it internally can cause spontaneous abortion. I think the botanists need to consult with some herbalists before they go saying what they think some herbs were used for!
Rune
Profile
Reply
| |
|
|
|
|
|
IMPORTANT NOTES: This site uses COOKIES. Please do not use this web site if you do not agree to our Terms and Conditions of use.
If you plan to visit ancient sites in person, please make sure you follow our Charter.
Articles, photographs and comments are the property of their respective authors or contributors, please contact them for permission to reproduce. Site design ©1997-2012 Andy Burnham.
|
Main News