History of Acupuncture

Abstract

The following article is a reprint of the lecture notes prepared for the first day of the seminar on TCM held in London by the Journal of Chinese Medicine. HISTORY OF ACUPUNCTURE AND MOXIBUSTION 1. ORIGIN There seems to be a nearly general agreement that acupuncture started during the Stone Age, particularly the so-called New Stone Age from 8000 to 3000 B. C. There also seems to be agreement that acupuncture is older than herbalism. Needles Stone 'needles' (BIAN) have been found in ancient tombs excavated in Inner Mongolia and Hunan Province. Three kinds of stones have been found with different degrees of sharpness. One is very sharp and was probably used to make incisions to let out pus, while the blunt ones were probably used for some kind of Gua Sha (skin-scraping) . After stone, needles were made principally of bone and bamboo. Xia 2205 -1766 B.C. / Shang 1766 -1122 B.C. Metal needles started being used during the Bronze Age during the Xia and Shang dynasties and were first made of bronze. Incidentally, bronze manufacturing reached a very high level early during the Shang dynasty. Later other metals were used such as gold and silver, and from about 500 B.C. onwards, iron. Jade was also used. By 200 B.C. steel was available. MOXIBUSTION