Witch Doctors 10000 BC – The First Step in the History of Medicine

"There are obvious dangers in making bold generalizations about the beliefs of countless societies, from the Nuer [African tribes] to the Navajo." wrote historian Roy Porter. "Yet… unlike modern Western medicine, traditional healing methods tend to view most illnesses… as essentially personal." In ancient tribal settings, illness was often viewed as a target and arose from a supernatural agency.

Since ancient times, "medicine men" (also sometimes known as witch doctors, shamans or sangomas) have met the health needs of their people by performing ceremonies and minor surgical procedures and providing charms and plant-based medicines.

Shamanic practices involving healers who appear to be in contact with the spirit world probably originated in Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) times. For example, evidence of Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) shamanism was found in Israel in the form of an elderly woman from a burial dating to around 10,000 BC. This woman's importance, along with her possible close relationship with nature and animals, is demonstrated by the special arrangement of stones around her body, together with 50 complete tortoise shells, a human foot and the remains of birds, wild boar, leopards, cows and eagles. Today, the vast majority of South Africa's traditional Nguni societies use sangomas who practice herbal medicine, divination and counseling.

Several types of shaman may exist for a single individual. For example, according to psychologist Stanley Krippner, writing about the Cuna Indians of Panama, "the abisua shaman recovers by singing, the inaduledi specializes in medicinal plants and the nele focuses on diagnosis."

Science correspondent Robert Adler: “In many groups around the world, shamans or sorcerers are thought to have the twin abilities to hurt or heal, kill or cure. Shamans, where they are found, often have detailed knowledge of local hallucinogenic plants. They use the plants in healing rituals and to communicate with the supernatural... We find the predecessors of our white-coated doctors in the powerful figures of shamans and sorcerers... Like our ancestors, we too have been imbued with great powers."

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