The heyday of primitive society began in the Upper Paleolithic (see Table 2). By this time, the process of anthropogenesis was finally completed, the ecumene significantly expanded. If at the early stages of the development of humanity it occupied only the zone of the tropical belt of Africa and Eurasia, then by the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, man had mastered significant territories of Northern Europe and Siberia, Australia and America. Adaptation to a variety of environmental conditions during this period went in parallel with the formation of modern races (Negroid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Australian), as well as numerous racial types.

The development of the primitive collectivism, the artillery technique, the invention of the bow and arrow (XIV-VII millennium BC) caused a further rise in the productive forces and improvement of the organization of human society, that is, social relations. In the heyday of primitive society, this was reflected in the emergence of the communal-clan system, first in the form of an early tribal community of hunters, gatherers and fishermen, and then in the form of a more developed late tribal community of farmers and pastoralists.

The early tribal community of hunters, gatherers, and fishermen (the era of the Upper Paleolithic and partially Mesolithic) was a fully formed human society. With extremely low labor productivity in a simple appropriating economy, the clan community was a team of equals: men and women specialized in different, equally socially useful areas of work; their collectivism was manifested both in the sphere of labor and in the sphere of consumption, i.e. distribution of the product.

Along with primitive collectivism, one of the leading characteristics of the genus is a single-line (unilinear) relationship of kinship. Historically, the concept of maternal kinship was formed earlier than the idea of ​​paternal kinship; this explains the fact that in the early stages of sociogenesis, blood kinship was established between the descendants of the same mother, i.e., matrix-linear (matrilinear organization of the genus) *.

In the early human collectives, women played an important role in taking care of the children, maintaining the fire, and running the house. All this was the basis of the high social status of women and, together with the matrilineal kinship account, led to the formation of a maternal and clan cult - the cult of mothers ancestors, focal points. From this, however, it does not follow that in the periods of the early and developed tribal community, the woman stood at the head of the clan - the head of the clan could equally be the woman and the male leader born of the woman of the clan.

Primitive art, the first monuments of which belong to the Upper Paleolithic (the absolute age is 30–20 thousand years), imprinted equally on both men and women.

Images of men more ancient (absolute age - about 30 thousand years). As a rule, it is polychrome painting on the walls of caves, products made of stone or bone. Men were portrayed while hunting animals or in the process of magical rites. .

Images of women belong to a later period (the absolute age is about 24 thousand years). Most often these are small stylized figurines made in a realistic manner of stone or bone. In archaeological and historical literature, the Upper Paleolithic figurines of women are not associated with healing (as is often done in historical and medical literature). In the era of the Upper Paleolithic, healing was the collective occupation of a wide range of community members. Women did it because it was demanded by the care of the children and other members of the community; men assisted congeners during the hunt or in the fight with neighboring teams.

The developed (late) tribal community of farmers and pastoralists (Mesolithic? Neolithic) is characterized primarily by the transition from the appropriating farm to producing - agriculture (from the 9th-3rd millennia BC) and the breeding of domestic animals (from the VIII-III millenniums before e.) According to most researchers, agriculture originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region and on the territory of the modern states of Iraq and Iran. This is confirmed by archaeological research and photographs taken from space.

During the period of the late tribal community, a dog, a sheep, a goat, a bull, and a horse were domesticated; invented ceramics, spinning and weaving, wheeled transport and sailing boat; mastered the construction of buildings of brick and underground mining of stone. By the end of the period (IV millennium BC. E.), Pictorial writing, pictography, began to develop from painting.

During this turbulent period of human history (known as the "Neolithic Revolution"), healing developed in close cooperation with both rational and irrational ideas about the world around it.

The result of a rational outlook was positive knowledge and methods of healing. A wealth of material for their reconstruction is provided by studies of traditional medicine of the Australian and American aboriginal synoptic societies (see p. 208), Oceania, which lived in the recent past, according to archaeological terminology, in the Stone Age. Thus, the aborigines of Australia, widely using the flora and fauna of their continent, used to treat digestive disorders, castor oil, eucalyptus resin and orchid bulbs; stopped the bleeding with the help of cobwebs, ashes, or iguana fat; with snakebites, they sucked blood and burned the wound; for skin diseases, urine was washed and clay was applied.

Primitive healers also owned surgical techniques: they treated wounds with medicines prepared from plants, minerals, and animal parts; used "tires" for fractures; they knew how to make bloodletting using spines and thorns of plants, fish scales, stone and bone knives. In New Guinea, for example, the primitive healers of synpoleic tribes opened a vein with small arrows, which they used at close range from a taut bow.

However, the empirical knowledge of primitive man, gained from practical experience, was still very limited. Primitive man could not foresee or explain the causes of natural disasters, to understand the phenomena surrounding nature. His powerlessness in nature gave rise to fantastic and rational ideas about. around the world .. On this basis, already in the period of the early tribal community, the first religious ideas began to emerge (totemism, fetishism, animism, magic), which affected the methods of healing.

Totemism (Algonkinsk. From-otem - its genus) —the belief of a person in the existence of a close kinship between his genus and a certain type of animal or plant (for example, kangaroo or eucalyptus). Totem was not worshiped, it was considered “father”, “elder brother”, protector from misfortunes and illnesses. Thatism was an ideological reflection of the connection between the genus and its natural environment. The early tribal community was characterized mainly by zoomorphic totemism, that is, the veneration of animals.

Fetishism (Portuguese. Fetico - amulet, talisman) - belief in the supernatural properties of inanimate objects. At first, this belief extended to tools (for example, a particularly successful spear), fruit-bearing trees, or useful household items, i.e., had a completely material basis. Subsequently, fetishes began to be made. Especially as cult objects and received an idealistic interpretation. So there were amulets and talismans (from the plague, cholera, wounded in battle, etc.).

Animism (lat. Anima, animus - soul, spirit) - faith in souls, spirits and the universal spiritualization of nature. It is believed that these. views are associated with the early forms of the cult of the dead. Rituals dedicated to the dead are found on the islands of Oceania, in Australia, America and Africa.

Magic (heating, mageia - witchcraft) is a vein in a person's ability to supernaturally influence other people, objects, events or natural phenomena. Not understanding yet the true connection between events and natural phenomena and misinterpreting random coincidences, the primitive man tried using special techniques (magic actions) to bring about the desired result (weather changes, hunting success or recovery from the disease).

Among the many varieties of magic was healing magic - healing of wounds and ailments based on cult practice. At first, cult practice was not a secret: everyone could perform simple ceremonies and rituals. Over time, the development of beliefs and the complication of rituals required a certain specialization. The circle of persons capable of assimilating them was sharply narrowed, and cult actions began to be performed by the elders of the clan or the most skilled members of the community.

At the end of the late Paleolithic, in the depths of the caves, special sanctuaries began to be created, on the walls of which "servants of the cult" were also depicted. The most famous among them is the small poly-lame image of the “sorcerer” (the scientists called him) in the cave of Three Brothers in France - a half-bent figure with a long tail, human legs and beast paws, a long beard and deer horns (Fig. 4).

The primitive cult practice finally took shape during the period of the developed tribal community, when the zoomorphic totemism of animal ancestors gradually transformed into an anthropomorphic totemism and the cult of human ancestors - the patrons of the family (male ancestors - during the transition to patriarchy and female ancestors - during the transition to matriarchy).

The cult of ancestors was reflected in the primitive man's ideas about the causes of disease: the occurrence of ailment was sometimes understood as the result of the introduction of the spirit of a deceased ancestor into the body of a sick person. Similar interpretations had an impact on the methods of healing, the purpose of which was the expulsion of the spirit of the disease from the body of the patient. In some cases, this "exile" was carried out by quite natural means. So, the natives of America sucked the "spirit of the disease" with the help of the buffalo's hollow horn (a prototype of modern cans). In many nations it was customary to feed the patient with bitter food, unpleasant for the "living spirit" (it also included drugs). However, in general, the desire to expel the spirit of the disease from the body of the patient gave rise to a whole line of cult practice - shamanism, which combined irrational rituals with the use of rational means and methods of healing.

The ritual rituals associated with the expulsion of the spirit of the disease, and trepanation of the skull, known for archaeological data from the XII millennium BC. e. (Mesolithic), - only a man of the modern species began to produce it - Homo sapiens.

The first trepanned skull of a fossil human on our planet was found in Latin America - near the city of Cusco (in Peru) in 1865. An analysis of numerous trepanned human skulls in Peru showed that in most cases (about 70%) trepanation ended successfully , as evidenced by the formation of callus at the edges of the holes. The absence of corns suggests that a person died during or shortly after surgery (Fig. 5).

The cause of trepanation is still a debatable question. Most scientists believe that more often it was made for ritual purposes: the hole, as a rule, was made in the stereotypical zones of the cranial skull. Perhaps the primitive man hoped that through the opening in the skull the spirit of the disease could easily leave the body of the patient.

At the same time, there is another point of view, which assumes that trepanations in the primitive era were more often carried out after a traumatic injury of the cranial skull and are associated with the removal of bone fragments. ' Both points of view have a right to exist. However, for the history of medicine, the very fact of successful (experienced) trepanning is crucial, which indicates the reality of successful surgical interventions on the brain skull, which took place already in the periods of the late tribal community and decomposition of primitive society.

In general, the healing of the heyday of the primitive society is characterized by: the purposeful application of the empirical experience of collective healing in social practice and the improvement of rational healing techniques; further development of hygienic skills (clothes from, skins, dwellings); in the field of operative healing - treatment of wounds by means of plant, animal and mineral origin, splinting, bleeding, ritual cutting, using stone, bone, fish scales, etc., as an instrument of healing, etc., empirical use of natural intoxicants and narcotic drugs painkillers; in the field of social relations, the further development of collective healing and the emergence of healing magic based on fantastic beliefs and perverse worldviews (Table 4).

The economic and social development of mankind in the period of the late tribal community prepared the prerequisites for the emergence of private property and the decomposition of the primitive communal system, which had begun earlier in the fertile valleys of the world's largest rivers.