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Ötzi's First-Aid Kit
The Iceman also carried a modest first-aid kit.
His implements included two hide strips, on to each of which a round lump of material had been threaded. The strips were attached to Ötzi’s clothing. Analysis showed that these lumps consisted of the fruiting body of the birch polypore fungus.
Right up until the 20th century such bracket fungi were used for many medicinal purposes. The birch polypore is known to have antibiotic and styptic effects. Furthermore, toxic oils in bracket fungi are effective against the intestinal parasites that Ötzi himself suffered from. Were these curative properties already known in the Neolithic period?

