Neanderthals 'discovered' aspirin and penicillin nearly 50,000 years ago

By Susana Victoria Perez, Buzz60

Neanderthals might have been more advanced than we first believed. A new DNA test suggests they might have even self-prescribed an early version of a common modern day painkiller.

An international study published in Nature found that ancient dental plaque in the upper jaw of a Neanderthal revealed what their diet was like over 50,000 years ago.

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The DNA evidence showed 1 of the 3 Neanderthals studied was from Belgium and a meat eater, living off the wooly rhino and sheep.

Another neanderthal lived in Spain and had a true paleo diet, snacking on mushrooms, pine nuts, tree bark and moss.

Scientists also found that a young teenage male who was obviously sick, with an infected mouth and other injuries, had residue on his teeth from a poplar tree where doctors would later discover a key ingredient in aspirin, as well as moss which was the earlier version of antibiotic penicillin.

Well, after having rhino for dinner, you might wanna pop a few aspirins back.