So, is this a Time Traveler, trying to use technology from the period of time they are supposed to belong in?
this post was submitted on 14 May 2026
135 points (100.0% liked)
Archaeology
4841 readers
1 users here now
Welcome to c/Archaeology @ Mander.xyz!
Shovelbums welcome. πΏ
Notice Board
This is a work in progress, please don't mind the mess.
- 2023-06-15: We are collecting resources for the sidebar!
- 2023-06-13: We are looking for mods. Send a dm to @fossilesque@mander.xyz if interested!
About
Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.
Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.
The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Be kind and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- No pseudoscience/pseudoarchaeology.
Links
Archaeology 101:
Get Involved:
University and Field Work:
- Archaeological Fieldwork Opportunities Bulletin
- University Archaeology (UK)
- Black Trowel Collective Microgrants for Students
Jobs and Career:
Professional Organisations:
- Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (UK)
- BAJR (UK)
- Association for Environmental Archaeology
- Archaeology Scotland
- Historic England
FOSS Tools:
- Diamond Open Access in Archaeology
- Tools for Quantitative Archaeology β in R
- Open Archaeo: A list of open source archaeological tools and software.
- The Open Digital Archaeology Textbook
Datasets:
Fun:
Other Resources:
Similar Communities
Sister Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
Plants & Gardening
Physical Sciences
Humanities and Social Sciences
Memes
Find us on Reddit
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
So neanderthals had a more accessible healthcare system than we do gotcha
Friends and sharp rocks stay free, itβs just the nerd shit like medical training and anesthesia youβve gotta pay for
Holy fuck.
Can you imagine some guy drilling holes into your teeth with nothing but elbow grease and a stone drill? Desperation will drive you to madness, I guess.
phew I kinda feel good about living in this modern age. The article doesn't mention anesthesia but maybe neanderthals used it ? feels like drilling out a cavity with stone tools would benefit from anesthesia
One anesthesia pleaaaaseee!!!
It probably hurt so bad already that this felt like a last resort. People used to say bugs or gremlins or w/e caused tooth pain so Neander Von Thal might have been begging to have it popped
drilling out a cavity with stone tools would benefit from anesthesia
Probably just used a larger stone.
"Nurse, prep patient."
"Yes, doctor."
hits patient in the head with a club to knock him out
Yokel anesthesia
π In Earth's Children, the main character occasionally uses anesthetic beverages to operate on others painlessly. I don't know how documented that is. When I have some free time, I'll look up anesthetic use during the ~~neolithic~~ upper paleolithic.
I suppose they could make wine, but anything stronger would require distilling. Iβm not sure if they were capable of that? Though maybe there were other things they could smoke or ingest. Opium comes to mind, but not sure if that was available in the geographic regions you would find Neanderthals?
ah, yes, alcohol. Why not ! I don't know where opium grows. In the books they use datura !
I don't think there is evidence of neanderthals making pottery. Unlikely that they would be able to make alcohol.
https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/17/in-the-wild-chimps-likely-ingest-the-equivalent-of-several-alcoholic-drinks-every-day/ Wouldn't necessarily need pottery.
That's true enough, but also not reliable. There are not perfectly rotten fruits lying around at all times and places to be used for tooth surgery.
There are if you start taking them with you because funny fruit makes you feel good.
Ty, best one ive heard todayπ€£
We didn't have any kind of local anesthesia until they figured out cocaine could do this near the end of the 1800s.
Medicinal plants to manage pain have been used since the dawn of time. Western medecine took a while to care about how patients feel though.
Cloves were about as close as you could get before that.
I wonder what they then filled the cavity with.
Reminder that Neanderthals had bigger brains than us on average. FWIW.
Pine resin can be made into a glue that hardens quite well. Easy enough to replace if needed. However I have no idea if they used that.
Amber-style teeth sound pretty rad, honestly.