Gbekli Tepe: The Dawn of Civilization

[Warpy]

18. I don't think you can tie any one concoction to anything in deeper time

than a few thousand years, which gets us back to maybe 6000 years ago but not 12,000 years ago. While testing the scuzz between the teeth of ancient skeletons can give us an idea of what the general diet was, it doesn't tell us what they took fo a toothache or what they partied down on.

People did use all sorts of intoxicants and hallucinogens all throuogh our history, even before we became genus homo. Altered states of consciouness might have been scary from time to time, but apparently the bluenoses among them weren't allowed to tell anyone else what s/he could ingest or not ingest (unless it was a kid and it was poison). The proof? The fondness most primate species have for boozy fruit.

Women did know herbs and many had favorite concoctions, much of which I'd prefer to avoid (worm stew, anyone?). I don't know where the quote is from and a search is coming up with adverts for Rite Aid, but someone in the 16th century is noted to have said "My garden is my apothecary shop and my wife is my doctor." It wasn't until sometime in the 18th century that apothecary shops were "professionalized," code for men barging in and taking over and pushing women out.

Women who were accused of witches weren't always midwives and apothecary owners, most of the time they were older women who had inherited property in their own right, property that was coveted by local men. She wouldn't marry any of the greedy bastards, so she must be a witch and secretly married to Satan. At least that is what research has shown. Midwives and apothecary owners were necessary. Women who committed the sin of owning their own proerty were not.