it is unknown when the first signs of medical aid and medical treatment emerged. However, it is widely believed that this happened with the emergence of humans, i.e. several thousand years before our era, or even earlier, at the beginning of the Quaternary period of Earth's history. This hypothesis has been outspoken many times both by history experts and health professionals. Thus, according to a great physiologist I. Pavlov, "health activities were born with the emergence of the first human" and "it would be wrong to consider that the history of medicine only began with the first medical texts" [Pavlov I.P. (1951) Polnoye sobranie sochineniy [Complete works] V. 2, book 1, P. 246]. In other words, medical science emerged in the pre-writing period of history.
The first signs of medical aid were found during the primitive-communal period which consists of the epoch of primitive human herd (the Lower Paleolithic) and the time of primitive tribal society (the Upper Paleolithic, Meso-lithic and Neolithic). When talking about the first signs of medical aid, people usually refer to the time of primitive tribal society, when herds were replaced by small communities which afterwards were followed by clans and unions of clans. Ancient people used stone tools (like axes and knives) for gathering food and hunting. Many thousand years later, people adopted bronze in their daily living (the Bronze Age) and afterwards, iron. This changed the way people lived; they began hunting more and more. People often got injured during hunting or gathering plant food; they also often became ill due to overcooling and other causes. Spontaneously, techniques of medical practices and self-healing emerged. Cave paintings by the primitive people are confirmation of the above. Often, they show scenes of battles and hunting; in such scenes, the participants are primitive people who got injured by arrows and other weapons. The paintings also show medical aid techniques like extraction of arrows etc.