The archive
Episodes
5 published
The Cactus Andean Healers Drink to See Your Illness
San Pedro (wachuma) is an Andean healing cactus carved in stone at Chavín ~750 BC and still used by curanderos today. Sources: Stela of the Cactus Bearer; ICEERS.
They Amputated a Foot 1,000 Years Ago — and He Walked Again
The Moche of Peru amputated feet ~1,500 years ago and patients survived and walked again, with ceramic prosthetics. Sources: Verano, Anderson & Franco 2000; PMC.
They Opened Skulls and Patients Lived. Nobody Knows How They Killed the Pain.
Inca surgeons did brain surgery with high survival — but how did they handle the pain? The coca-anesthesia story is a myth. Sources: Nat Geo (Andrushko 2008); ACS Bulletin.
The Inca "Cured Malaria" — Except There Was No Malaria
Did the Inca discover quinine to cure malaria? Actually there was no malaria in the Americas before 1492 — here's the real cinchona story. Sources: CDC EID; PMC review.
The Inca Had a Licensed Doctor — Your Pharmacist AND Your Surgeon
The Inca Empire had an official doctor — the hampicamayoc — who was both pharmacist and surgeon. Sources: Elferink (Revista de Indias); Marino & Gonzales-Portillo, Neurosurgery 2000.