I bet you didn't know that this thread would have a part 2

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Until 200 years ago we didn't have effective painkillers or anaesthetics.

Well we kinda did, or at least we had a few herbal concoctions that would do a fair job of reducing pain. Even alcohol would do the trick. Going way back hunter gatherers are also herbal specialists and usually have a fair medicine bag of stuff to treat illnesses. This was the case even as far back as Neandertals. Researchers have for a while now looked at the tartar preserved between the teeth of ancient humans(when it hadn't been cleaned away by earlier researchers) and the stuff preserved in it. A few years back a bunch of researchers looked anew at Neandertal tartar from a group in Spain and another in Holland IIRC and with the latest tech kit. They found some interesting things in the DNA and other stuff extracted.

The Dutch folks were almost exclusively meat eaters like we think of Neandertals, however the Spanish folks were damn near vegetarians, which came as a surprise and showed they were just as locally adaptable as us diet wise(previous humans weren't nearly so much). Both groups had distinct mouth bacteria ecosystems going on and different to modern humans, at least westerners, the Spanish had more of the bacteria that cause tooth decay(plant based diets are more likely to cause this). One Spanish guy had an abscess on his tooth and he alone of the group had a couple of interesting differences. He had the DNA for willow, likely willow bark which contains the active ingredient in aspirin and he also had a fair chunk of the DNA from of all things the fungus that gave us penicillin. Yeah, mad or wha? So it looks like he was being medicated by the wise woman of the tribe or whomever and they had found out through experience which special blend of herbs and spices did the trick. Another bunch again in Spain consumed chamomile, likely as a relaxant. They also consumed other herbs that were very bitter(like willow bark) and had the same "ah jaysus that's bleedin rank Liam" sensory pathways as us, so again likely medicinal.

There was also a hint of something else going on when they looked at a particular bacteria found in the mouth. The Neandertal one shows up at around the time we first met them and got jiggy. It gets passed from person to person from food sharing and very much by things like kissing, so maybe we gave it to them after a snoggette behind a tree after the cave nightclub had called last orders. Yer wan on the right above looks pretty even by today's standards. To me anyway so...

They were also into collecting and refining pigments likely for body adornment(though some could be used as part of a fire starting kit). Interestingly the pigments they seek out are all dark(except for mica for extra sparkle to look fabulous) which makes sense if they were pale skinned like modern Europeans. If you look at modern people like say Native Australians who are very dark skinned their body paint palate is towards whites and pale colours. Dark colours wouldn't be nearly so blinging. Like I'd be the whitest guy at Dracula's book club and the Aborigine body art would be lost on me. They also used jewellery in the form of pendants and necklaces using shells and even eagle claws and feathers. So they must have been quite a colourful people. We would have presented a sight to them too of course. Slightly taller and much skinnier dark skinned people with faces that would have looked almost childlike to them and tech like sewn and fitted clothing and light long distance spears. One Neandertal in what is present day Iran was actually hit and injured by one of those spears, so it looks like it wasn't always nice to meet you. He survived the injury which would have punctured a lung(tough buggers) but died in a cave roof collapse a few weeks after.

Oh and they also invented the first compound glue from tree sap, something that required very particular temperatures and an anaerobic environment to work. Modern researchers can just about manage to make about a teaspoon full at best, whereas they seemed to be able to rattle it out in quantity and with apparent ease.

I suppose for Schrodinger he could always say he was with both women and neither, at the same time.