Did Neanderthals discover penicillin 40,000 years ago?
NEANDERTHALS are not normally associated with great leaps in medical science.
Indeed, their name has become something of a byword for a brutish lack of intelligence.
But their dim-witted reputation may be about to be overturned. Scientists say the cavemen may have discovered the beneficial effects of penicillin and aspirin more than 40,000 years ago.
Far from being dumb, researchers now believe Neanderthals were skilled herbalists who used nature as their pharmacy. The findings are based on DNA samples recovered from plaque deposits found on the teeth of a male Neanderthal unearthed in Spain.
This individual was unwell, with an abscess in his jawbone and bacteria that would have given him a nasty stomach complaint.
To treat himself, the DNA shows he ate poplar bark, which contains salicylic acid, the painkilling ingredient of aspirin.
Even more intriguing was the fact that he had also eaten a penicillin mould – possibly using it as a Stone Age antibiotic.
It was in 1928 that Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, meaning the Neanderthal – known as El Sidron 1 – beat him to it by thousands of years. Aspirin was first synthesised in 1890, although eating willow or poplar bark was recognised as a painkiller thousands of years before.
Explaining the detective work that offers a window into prehistoric times, researcher Dr Laura Weyrich of the University of Adelaide in Australia said: ‘Dental plaque traps microorganisms that lived in the mouth and pathogens found in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, as well as bits of food stuck in the teeth – preserving the DNA for thousands of years.’ She said the DNA ‘represents a unique window into Neanderthal lifestyle – revealing new details of what they ate, what their health was like’.
The scientists looked at the remains of four Neanderthals found in the El Sidrón cave in Spain and Belgium’s Spy Cave.
Another team member, Professor Alan Cooper of Adelaide, added: ‘Apparently, Neanderthals possessed a good knowledge of medicinal plants and their various anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, and seem to be self-medicating. Certainly our findings contrast markedly with the rather simplistic view of our ancient relatives in popular imagination.’
The co-author of the paper in the journal Nature, Karen Hardy, of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, said: ‘Neanderthals have had a very bad press. They weren’t simple or backward, they had a huge ecological knowledge. We have lost this knowledge of how to self-medicate.’
Professor Hardy and colleagues have previously uncovered evidence that Neanderthals may have eaten yarrow and chamomile – two plants that can also be used to treat fever.
Scientists not connected to the research hailed the study as ‘exciting’ – but warned that while intriguing, it was based on the dietary choices of just four Neanderthals.