ABSTRACT
The relationship between locality, ethnicity and medicine is outlined, the subject of ‘ethnoecology’. This chapter explains how Dagestan, being an area rich in different geologies and topographies, and consequently blessed by a variety of ecosystems, has a wide range of material, mineral, herbal and animal, from which traditional medicines have been developed. Local belief in the universal animation of matter means that many treatments have to address this as well as the physiological. Examples of these treatments are described; although often seeming unlikely as to effect, modern medicine is recognising at least some as beneficial. The local doctors were important figures, and often unexpectedly well-read in Arabic; some even wrote texts themselves which became known through Dagestan.
