Ancient Native Americans Used Aspirin
Friday, August 22nd, 2014August 22, 2014
Fragments of pottery discovered by archaeologists in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado contain residues of a pain-relieving compound similar to modern aspirin. The pottery fragments, which date to more than 1,300 years ago, contain residues of salicylic acid, a chemical compound known for its ability to reduce fever and pain. Acetylsalicylic acid, or aspirin, one of the most widely used drugs in the world, is prepared from salicylic acid. The pottery fragments are the oldest known physical evidence of traditional American Indian medicinal practices ever found.
American Indians’ use of indigenous, or native, plants for a wide variety of medicinal purposes is well known from oral histories, ethnographic sources, and the continuing traditions of Indians today. Scholars have listed as many as 2,700 different plants that are recognized by American Indians as having healing purposes. For example, many Indian groups were known to boil willow bark to make a drink that reduced fever. The Pueblo people of the western United States are known to boil willow roots and bark to make a poultice (hot pack) that is used to soothe aches and pains. Although scholars know that the use of medicinal plants likely developed over thousands of years, few, if any, physical remains of traditional American Indian medicines have been found in the archaeological record.

The earliest archaeological evidence for ancient Indians creating a pain-relieving compound similar to modern aspirin was found recently in Colorado. Many types of Indians, especially the cliff-dwelling Pueblo Indians, are known to have used the willow plant to create pain relieving remedies. (© James P. Rowan.)
Archaeologists at the Colorado rock shelter originally excavated a variety of artifacts, including stone tools and pottery shards in 2011. The pottery did not have distinctive designs or other markings that could be used to determine if they were made by ancient ancestors of any American Indian group living today. However, a chemical analysis of residues coating one pottery shard identified the substance as salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin. The salicylic acid was most likely deposited on the pottery as willow bark, roots, or leaves were boiled within the vessel. No other residues, such as those that would have been deposited from cooking food in the pottery, were found on this shard. The archaeologist studying this pottery suggests that the fragment was from a pot used specifically to store or prepare medicine. This indicates that an understanding of the uses of plants was already well developed in American Indian medicine more than 1,000 years ago.
Additional World Book articles: