Indeginous Medicine

The Aleut people is the native people of the Aleutian Islands in the western part of Alaska. The earliest people in this region, the Paleo-Aleuts, arrived in the Aleutian islands from the the Alaskan mainland about 2000 BC (Encyclopedia Britannica). Traditional Aleut medicine was quite comprehensive. They had a vast knowledge of how the human body work. In this essay we will explore the history of the traditional Aleut medicine and the many methods they used.

Aleut traditional medicine before the 1800s was treated in various spiritual and practical ways, after the 1800s many of these methods of healing were lost. Aleutians most healing medicine came from medicine women/men and shamans. Shamans were the aboriginal specialists in dealing with the supernatural. They cured the sick and were requested in cases of difficult childbirth (Ransom 348). Shamans were link to the spiritual world, and because they had this link to this world they were able to determine the illness and treat it accordingly. As with many Aleut traditions, shamans and medicine men/women vanished with contact with Russians and European nations.

Aleutians were skilled and knowledgeable surgeons. The Aleuts were able to learn about the human body because of the dissection of sea animals they would catch. They would also perform dissections on their enemies and slaves that had recently died. They would also perform autopsies when they cannot determine the the death. They would use this knowledge to determine how to help their human patients. There were very few stone age cultures who had the knowledge of how the human body worked. The Aleut knowledge of how to heal the body was great example of how advanced and technological the Aleuts were.

“Although ce...

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.... They were technological advanced for a society that existed thousands of years ago. Unfortunately with contact with outside societies much of this knowledge was lost to time. In this modern days Aleuts are able to get medical care through city and town hospitals and clinics. They can visits doctors and specialists who prescribe a vary number of modern medicines. They no longer use shamans to help cure there illnesses. They are some shamans that still exist today, but they are scarce and most perform in secrecy. The medicinal knowledge of plants is only thing that survive till the modern times. The knowledge of these plants is still being passed down to the next generation. Medical companies are know using these plants in modern medicines. Modern medical companies are now understanding the usefulness of the plants of the Aleuts and how they help cure illnesses.