The Obstetric Connection: Midwives and Weasels within and beyond Minoan Crete

The Minoan peak sanctuaries call for systematic comparative research as an island-bound phenomenon whose significance to the (pre)history of medicine far transcends the Cretan context: they yield clay anatomical offerings attesting to the earliest known healing cult in the Aegean. The peak sanctuary of Petsophas produced figurines of weasels, which are usually interpreted as pests, ignoring their association with votives that express concerns about childbirth, traditionally the first single cause of death for women. The paper draws from primary sources to examine the weasel’s puzzling bond with birth and midwives, concluding that it stems from the animal’s pharmacological role in ancient obstetrics. This novel interpretation then steers the analysis of archaeological evidence for rituals involving mustelids beyond and within Bronze Age Crete, revealing the existence of a midwifery koine across the Near East and the Mediterranean, a net of interconnections relevant to female therapeutics which brings to light a package of animals and plants bespeaking of a Minoan healing tradition likely linked to the cult of the midwife goddess Eileithyia. Challenging mainstream accounts of the beginnings of Western medicine as a male accomplishment, this overlooked midwifery tradition characterises Minoan Crete as a unique crucible of healing knowledge, ideas, and practices.

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From the History of Shamanism: Images of Shamans and Shamanistic Rituals on the Petroglyphs of the Upper Amur, Olekma, and Aldan Rivers (article one)

10.22250/2072-8662.2019.3.53-61 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 53-61

Author(s):

Tatyana Yu. Sem ◽

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Comparative Research ◽

Semantic Analysis ◽

18Th Century ◽

European Population ◽

The World ◽

History Of ◽

Cultural Genesis ◽

The Bronze Age

The article deals with the ancient roots of shamanism according to the materials of the petroglyphs of the Upper Amur, Aldan and Olekma of the Bronze Age and early Iron Age (2000–1000 BC) with the ethnographic parallels. In order to analyze the material, the author uses a set of methods – diachronic archaeological and ethnographic comparative research, iconographic and semantic analysis. According to the petroglyphs of the 11 images of shamans of the specified period, and two of the 18th century, describing the personality of shamans with ritual paraphernalia – a suit, a tambourine, a mallet, a baton, masks and a headdress. Two images in costumes were also dressed in masks of the supreme gods of heaven and thunder. All shaman figures are painted in the process of ritual actions. There are hunting rituals, ritual of receiving the heavenly grace of the calendar type, circular dances associated with the cult of the sun at the new year’s holiday, the ritual of seeing the soul into the world of the dead and the shaman's initial ritual of sacrifice to the spirits to strengthen the shaman's power depicted among the shamanistic rituals on the petroglyphs. The vast majority of the considered images of shamans with attributes and costumes, shamanistic rituals depicted in the petroglyphs of the Upper Amur and Aldan rivers have direct correspondences in the shamanism of the Tungus-Manchu peoples (Evenki, Nanai, Udege), which indicates a possible direction of cultural genesis in the region. In addition, some of the images have parallels with the spiritual culture of the ancient Indo-Europeans and Turkic-Mongols. Some images – radiant headdress, figures of thunderbolts – have analogies among the ancient Indo-European population of Karakol and Pribaikalye. Separate stories are genetically related to the Okunevites. Shamanic tambourines with vertical rungs are typical for the Altai and Tuvinians and were found in the Yakut group of Evenks.

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Water management in Minoan Crete, Greece: the two cisterns of one Middle Bronze Age settlement

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2007.012 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 103-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

G. Cadogan

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Military History ◽

The Political ◽

History Of ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Important Addition ◽

Minoan Crete ◽

The Hill ◽

Social Management ◽

The Bronze Age

The two earliest structures of Minoan Crete that may be considered as large cisterns were both built in the first half of the second millennium BC (the time of the first Minoan palaces) at Myrtos-Pyrgos (Ierapetra). A considerable feat of engineering and social management, they remain a most unusual attribute of a Minoan settlement, all the more so since the Myrtos river is/was available to supply water at the foot of the hill of Pyrgos. This paper presents these cisterns, briefly, in terms of geology and technology, the history of their use and re-use, and their relevance to understanding the culture and society (at local and regional levels) of Crete in the time of the Old Palaces, as well as their possible contribution to the political and military history of the period. I then review possible precursors of, and architectural parallels to, the Pyrgos cisterns at Knossos, Malia and Phaistos (none of which has been proved to be a cistern), and the later history of cisterns in Bronze Age Crete. Since only three others are known (at Archanes, Zakro and Tylissos, of Late Bronze Age date), the two cisterns of Myrtos-Pyrgos are an important addition to our still rudimentary knowledge of how the Bronze Age Cretans managed their water supplies.

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Francisco de Asis Flores y Troncoso and his influence in the History of Medicine in Mexico

Mexican Journal of Medical Research ◽

10.29057/mjmr.v3i6.1841 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (6) ◽

Author(s):

Mercedes Alanís ◽

Luis Enrique Soria Jasso

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

History Of Medicine ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Literary Work ◽

Historical Records ◽

Native Population ◽

National History ◽

Work History ◽

History Of ◽

The Bronze Age

In the nineteenth century; The Bronze Age, monumental works were produced and the national history was characterized by movements of many writers who were trying to span the general history of Mexico with different topics according to the trends of contemporary authors and events. However, there were individuals interested in preserving the historical records of their country from the perspective of their own field of study. For example, the extensive literary work; History of Medicine in Mexico: Since the days of native population until the present time written by Francisco de Asís Flores y Troncoso and printed in 1886; despite of its significance, this literary work has been largely unnoticed by historiography, however, it is an excellent reference for any student of history of medicine.

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John Z. Bowers. When the Twain Meet: The Rise of Western Medicine in Japan. (Henry E. Sigerist Supplements to the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, new series, number 5.) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1980. Pp. xi, 173. $14.00

The American Historical Review ◽

10.1086/ahr/86.5.1133 ◽

1981 ◽

Keyword(s):

History Of Medicine ◽

Western Medicine ◽

Johns Hopkins University ◽

History Of

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A Pictorial History of Medicine

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.20.1.175 ◽

1957 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 175-176

Author(s):

RICHARD H. SHRYOCK

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

History Of Medicine ◽

Western Medicine ◽

The Social ◽

History Of

Dr. Bettmann has at last provided us with a pictorial history of medicine which is comprehensive in scope, rich in its illustrations, and generally sound in its running commentaries. Anyone who will consider the difficulties inherent in each of these connections, will recognize the extraordinary nature of the achievement. With regard to scope, the work covers the entire story of Western medicine from the Egyptian period to the end of the Nineteenth Century. Moreover, it includes the social and professional, as well as the scientific history. Since the text is secondary to the illustrations, rather than the reverse as in most histories, content is divided into units with appropriate headings.

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SINCLAIR HOOD (1917–2021)

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s0068245421000101 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Gerald Cadogan

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Central Europe ◽

Second Generation ◽

Near East ◽

The Other ◽

Aegean Prehistory ◽

British School ◽

History Of ◽

Minoan Crete ◽

The Bronze Age

Sinclair Hood (1917–2021) was one of the two leading archaeologists of Minoan Crete of the second generation after Sir Arthur Evans, the other being Nikolaos Platon (1909–92). He spent much of his life researching the history of Knossos, including a major programme of excavations during his Directorship of the British School at Athens (1954–62) to test Evans’ chronological system for Knossos and Crete in the Bronze Age. He also directed excavations at prehistoric Emporio in Chios, and was versed in the archaeology of Central Europe and the Near East, as well as every aspect of Aegean prehistory, on which he wrote profusely. In Greece he revolutionised methods for British archaeologists and trained many students who later became project directors. His monumental study The Masons’ Marks of Minoan Knossos crowned his career. It was published in 2020, when he was 103.

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