DOUNIAMAG-SCIENCE-PALAEONTOLOGY-NEANDERTHAL-MEDICINE

A handout photo released on March 7, 2017 by Paleoanthropology Group MNCN-CSIC shows the upper jaw of Neanderthal El Sidron 1, found in what is today Spain, with a dental calculus deposit visible on the rear molar (right).
Nearly 50,000 years before the invention of penicillin, this young Neanderthal tormented by a dental abscess ate greenery containing a natural antibiotic and pain killer, analysis of his teeth revealed on March 8, 2017. The male, who lived in El Sidron in what is now Spain, ate an antibiotic fungus called Penicillium and chewed on bits of poplar tree containing salicylic acid — the active ingredient of modern-day aspirin, researchers said. / AFP PHOTO / Paleoanthropology Group MNCN-CSIC / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / Paleoanthropology Group MNCN-CSIC ” – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS