ABSTRACT
Using medicinal plants is a very old behavioral adaptation found in many primate species, not just humans. This chapter looks at medicinal plants, a central component of traditional medicine. The study of plant medicines illustrates interdisciplinary collaboration among specialists in a host of disciplines, including archaeology, paleobiology, primatology, parasitology, and ethnobotany. The Berlins conducted long-term ethnosemantic research among the highland Maya of Chiapas in southern Mexico. The mention of quinine, a biomedically effective treatment for malaria, leads into another aspect of work on medicinal plants. Much of this research has implications for the development of pharmaceuticals. Clinical medicine is one of the basic sources of data about health and disease for the study of medical anthropology. Incidence is the rate at which new cases of a disease or other health-related events occur in a population over a given period of time.
