Roman first-aid kit discovery sheds new light on medicines used in ancient times

From Daily Mail Online: Roman first-aid kit discovery sheds new light on medicines used in ancient times
A first-aid kit discovered on a Roman-era shipwreck has shed new light on the kinds of medicines used in ancient times.

Pills made of ground vegetables, herbs and plants were found in 136 tin-lined wooden vials on a 50ft-long trading vessel wrecked around 130BC off the coast of Tuscany.

The tablets, which were so well sealed they survived more than 2,000 years under water, could have been used to treat sailors suffering from gastrointestinal complaints like dysentery and cholera, scientists believe

They contain ingredients referred to in classical medical texts like celery, alfalfa and chestnuts.

Dr Alain Touwaide, from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington DC told the Sunday Telegraph: 'It's a spectacular find. They were very well sealed.

'The plants and vegetables were probably crushed with a mortar and pestle - we could still see the fibres in the tablets.'

The tablets also contained clay, which is still used by doctors to treat gastrointestinal problems, he added.
They are the oldest known archaeological remains of ancient pharmaceuticals, and the chest also contained spatulas, suction cups and a mortar and pestle.
The vessel on which the medicine chest was found had been transporting wine, glassware, ceramics and oil lamps.

It sank in 60ft of water between the Italian mainland and the island of Elba.

The presence of the chest suggests that the ship may have had a doctor, or at least someone trained in first aid, historians believe.

Dr Touwaide said the discovery indicated ancient Greek medical knowledge was being put into practice in the Roman Empire.

The Romans learned much of their medical knowledge from the ancient Greeks, including use of a range of sophisticated instruments.

The ship was discovered off the port of Piombino in the Seventies, and the medicine box was found in 1989.

But it is only now, with the advent of DNA sequencing technology, that scientists have been able to analyse the contents of the pills.

Gino Fornaciari, a paleo-pathologist from Pisa University, told the Sunday Telegraph: 'As well as understanding how the ancient Romans treated each other, we are learning more about what illnesses they suffered from.'