Ancient America provides a unique case study for examining the independent development of medicinal practices and technologies in non‐Western societal contexts (Majno 1975). Initial European contacts with New World cultures of the early sixteenth century made clear that aboriginal medical systems and technologies embodied principles of a holistic – mental, somatic, spiritual, and supernatural – approach to healing (Classen 1993; Guerra 1971; Lopez Austin 1971; Huber and Sandstorm 2001). While the great centers of New World civilization provide our most complete record of medical practices and technologies, many localized native populations contributed to the extensive body of technical knowledge and expertise associated with herbal, chemical, surgical, extrasomatic, or ritual approaches to healing and public hygiene (Ankl 2002; Gall 1997; Kunow 2003). From South American gold and other metal‐based dental fillings, cranial trephination, postcranial surgery, and coca‐based anesthetics,...
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Mendoza, R.G. (2008). Medicine in Meso and South America. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8765
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