Claims of origin of sweatlodge or steam bath practices are almost as many as there are tribal cultures (often seen by indigenous people of Mexico and elsewhere, including Russians, as a womb, that gives birth and life and often provides important teachings to the people). The associated medicinal plants with the sweat bath in Northern Eurasia and the Native Americas even as far south as the Monte Verde Indians of the South American late Upper Paleolithic and today's Mapuche in Chile appear to distinctively include some of the medicinal genera common in the circumpolar area of the Northern Hemisphere that can be considered the late Upper Paleolithic core of Native American herbal medicine (likely including among others, species of the genus Artemisia). This is the core of medicinal genera that may stem from the somewhat uniform circumpolar culture, which may extend as far back as the late Upper Paleolithic (between 45,000 and 12,000 years ago) of both Eurasia and North America. As today, the composition of genera and species of plants available to people over the vast circumpolar region in the late Upper Paleolithic was likely also relatively uniform. According to Tkach, et al. (2007), phytogeographic studies (involving the present geographic distribution of plants) have reported a total of 33 Artemisia species in both the Eurasian and North American Arctic. It was noted that the species diversity of Artemisia in the circumpolar region today is exceeded only by a few other genera.

It is possible that some of the oldest uses of Artemisia for women in childbirth may have been associated with the sweat lodge or steam bath, a practice that is considered by the cultures of Europe, Central Asia, and North America to have originated from the remote past and possibly as far back in time as the Ice Age. It can at least be said that species of Artemisia grow more or less uninterrupted from Central Asia to the Eurasian Subarctic and Arctic. The first Anatomically Modern Humans (AMHs) to migrate from Central Asia into Western Europe during the late Upper Paleolithic (between 45,000 and 12,000 years ago) would have encountered abundant shrub associations of Artemisia, chenopods, and Ephedra in the colder steppe tundra, warmer open taiga, cooler conifer steppe, and warmer Mediterranean woodland. In North America, species of Artemisia (with fossil pollen traced to the Ice Age) can today be found in Mexico, the West, Southwest and Great Basin of the United States to the Subarctic and Arctic. Various literature sources make it appear that evidence of sweat lodge practices can be found over much of the geographical range of Artemisia in the Northern Hemisphere. These sources often make the claim that archaeological evidence indicates that prehistoric cultures all over the Arctic and Subarctic regions of Eurasia used the sweat bath. It is proposed that this may be the result of a somewhat uniform circumpolar culture, also extending into the North American Arctic. In Northern Europe, the oldest known sweathouses may have been like the still standing, small domed (beehive-shaped) corbeled stone buildings with or without a smoke hole on the top. As an indication of their possible prehistoric origin, some of these sweathouses have a corbel roofing style that is similar to the Neolithic tombs found all over Europe. Rocks for the roof were placed in an ever narrowing spiral until the last single rock was placed in the center and at the top. With the entrance and smoke hole covered to keep in the heat, the inside of the old European (e.g., Irish) sweathouse could be considered as dark as a tomb or possibly a womb. Nevertheless, these sweathouses that have extremely small "creep" entrances and soot remaining on some of the ceilings can be distinguished from similar structures with various purposes found throughout Europe. Probably older still were underground sweat houses (sometimes only cave-like pits dug in a slope or built into banks). A pit could also be simply dug in the ground; and an outside fire could be used to heat rocks, which could subsequently be placed in the center of the pit enclosed with a tarp. However, the even less preserved temporary or more portable sweat lodges (possibly constructed of wood and animal skins) of prehistoric nomadic tribes of Central Asia were likely much older and may have been similar to the oldest types used in both Europe and North America.

Actually, however, there is no conclusive evidence that the sweat bath even existed in prehistoric Eurasia (prior to the origin of written records about 5000 years ago). Although the small domed (beehive-shaped) corbeled stone buildings with or without a smoke hole in the top may have existed as far back as the Neolithic, the fragile structures still standing today in Europe cannot be expected to be older than the 19th century. There is some evidence that more temporary or portable types may have existed in Europe in the Early Bronze Age. However, this evidence is still not totally convincing that the few wood framed structures found associated with fire-cracked or burnt rock mounds were indeed sweat lodges or saunas. From a historical perspective the sweat bath may be traceable in Europe to the 1st century BC. The Ancient Greek historian Herodotus (~500 B.C.) wrote about the Scythian people of the Black Sea region that placed red-hot stones inside a felt (woolen cloth) covered hut and threw water onto the hot stones to generate a vapor hotter than any Grecian bath. Herodotus indicated that this steam bath practice was used for ritual cleansing and rites of passage before marriage and after burying the dead. Sweat bath customs can be found today in Central Asia, Scandinavia, Russia, and North America. Although strong evidence is difficult to find, the more recent mixed parallels in the association of Artemisia with the sweat bath and childbirth in Northern Europe, Russia, and North America may point to shared knowledge that has been retained here and there by currently widely separated, migrated peoples with a common Central Asian origin in the remote past. The traditional uses of both the sweat bath and Artemisia (inside and outside the sweat bath) for ritual cleansing and rites of passage during birth, before marriage, and during or after burying the dead appear here and there strongly similar or parallel in both Northwestern European and Native North American cultures. The ancestral Central Asian homeland of these widely separated peoples is a region that today as in the Ice Age comprises bountiful grassy steppes more rich in shrubby or woody Artemisia (sagebrush) species than the Southwest and Great Basin of the United States. Although it would seem that much could be learned from observation of the use of the portable sweat lodges by presently isolated Central Asian nomadic tribes, there are problems when attempting to trace these practices to the remote past. Therefore, in the Northern Hemisphere, it is only from the historic Scandinavian sauna, Russia bania or banya, and comparable Native American practices (where the sweatlodge reaches its maximum development) that much of the more reliable information can be found.

According to traditional Russian folk belief, babies were born in the sweat bath (bania or banya) because birthing women and newborns were terribly vulnerable to evil forces, and the guardian spirit of the bania was so strong that it kept away all evil spirits. This guardian function would have been increased by the widespread use of Artemisia in midwifery, because plants in this genus were also commonly believed to protect against almost any form of evil. For example, in widespread summer solstice celebrations throughout Europe, including those of Russia and Scandinavia, wreathes and garlands or belts of Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) were worn while dancing around the fire. The herb was later thrown into the fire to ensure continued protection throughout the coming year. Hanging the dried Mugwort over a door or on a window sill was believed to keep unwelcome energies from passing through. It is possible that the widespread folk belief that Artemisia is a protector of women in childbirth and the baby has some of its earliest roots in the protective association of these plants with birthing in the sweat bath.
The midwife (povitukha) prayed in the Russian bathhouse (bania or banya) before she brought in the pregnant woman; and it was there that the midwife assisted a woman during or after childbirth. A Russian woman after childbirth often spent several days (or, in some local traditions, even weeks) at the bathhouse together with her baby (Vadeysha, 2005). This was believed to be the place where a newborn baby's future fate could be determined. The connection between the sweat bath and childbirth likely became generalized and symbolic of spiritual rebirth and transformation. It was where rites of passage took place from birth and marriage to death. It was a custom to think of the bania as the second mother of everyone; in this connection, there can be a symbolic death and rebirth in a new state; and after a steam bath, one can feel born again. The second mother (vtoroi mat), as the sweat bath, was once associated with Mokosh, also referred to as Mother Russia or the Earth Mother. This Russian symbolism is not unlike the Native American (e.g., Lakota) concept of entering the sweatlodge to face death and become reborn. Could this also be considered the function of the old European (e.g., Irish) beehive-like sweathouse, which had a structure similar to a dark tomb (or possibly a womb) with a "creep" entrance and spiral corbel roof (like the tombs of Neolithic Europe)? The Aztecs, Zapotec, Mixtec, Mayans and other indigenous groups of Mexico also associate the temazcal with the womb and childbirth.

Some written records indicate that in Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas, species in the genus Artemisia were not only sometimes associated with steam bath or sweat lodge treatments during childbirth, but they were also used widely (like among Slavic and Baltic peoples) as a general woman's medicine [e.g., for delayed, absent, or irregular menses; insufficient or heavy flow; menstrual pain or other unspecified menstrual problems; leucorrhea (white discharge), vaginitis, pruritis (itching); or other unspecified female problems]. In Druidic and Anglo-Saxon times, the dark green stemmed, reddish-yellow flowered Artemisia vulgaris was often referred to as Mother of Herbs. This title was commonly applied to this species (also called Mugwort) throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Species of Artemisia are counter indicated for anyone who has pelvic inflammatory issues, because they cause uterine contractions; and they are not used during lactation, because their highly bitter constituents can be passed through the mother's milk. In Wales, Mugwort was tied to the left thigh of a woman having a difficult labor, but it was immediately removed after the birth, for if it was not removed, the belief was that she might hemorrhage. Although members of the genus can potentially cause miscarriage if used early on during pregnancy, Mugwort is one of the most ancient of the childbirth herbs, widely used in Asia, often as a steam bath over which a woman squats while in labor.

In locating the often hard to find parallels in the use of Artemisia by widely separated migrated peoples in association with the sweat bath and childbirth, a broad perspective needs to be adopted, merging steam bath and sweat lodge practices with those incorporating Artemisia, for example, into the hot medicated baths of the classical bathhouse, Grecian vapor-bath, Roman balneae or thermae, Turkish hammam, Finnish sauna, and Russian bania or banya (Old Russian pertâ', Latvian pertis, Lithuanian pirtis). Among Slav and Baltic peoples (Latvians, Lithuanians and North Russians), the steam bathhouse still plays an important role. Artemisia used in hot baths is known from Slavic, East European, and Middle Eastern cultures; and somewhat similar practices are recorded among the Ancient Greeks and Romans. However, Greek and Roman hot baths often did not use steam. See baths mentioned by Dioscorides using Artemisia to treat women in childbirth. Aromatic herbal baths employing Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) were common in the Near East of the Middle Ages; and the Ancient Greek or Roman and later Arabic bathing customs likely also influenced medical practices in Western Europe. In the Slavic Poltava province, problems with the womb are cured by bathing in Mugwort, which generally plays an important role in midwifery and gynecology. The use of Artemisia specifically in childbirth should also be viewed as part of its use as a more general medicine for women (used inside or outside a ritual, therapeutic, or sweat bath). According to V. B. Kolosova, practically all over the Slav territory native species of Artemisia were used very widely in the female sphere to treat a difficult birth, weak contractions, uterine and menstrual disorders, painful periods, induced miscarriage, barrenness or hemorrhage. Although detailed and specific evidence is not always easy to find, it should not be surprising that the use of Artemisia in midwifery in the steam bath during childbirth was once a common practice among the ancestral Slavic and Baltic peoples. Because plants in this genus were so commonly used in the midwifery by these people, some of these plants were likely also employed whenever birthing took place in the sweatbath.

It is possible (though never yet supported by archaeological evidence) that people living permanently away from trees and caves and out on the Eurasian steppes (open grasslands) of the late Upper Paleolithic could have evidently used the sweat lodge and fire heated rocks as a protective means of thermal regulation during childbirth and post-natal care. If so, these would be people [like the Gravettians of the grasslands of Eastern Europe (at the earliest at least in Europe)] that eventually learned to live out in the open spaces and could construct dwellings or lodges. Although no archaeological evidence is yet available, a sweat lodge providing protective thermal regulation during childbirth and post-natal care could certainly have been a critical adaption to the colder conditions of the last glaciation. Although sweat bath practices in Europe have only been historically documented from the 1st century BC, they are linked (in Northwestern Europe) to childbirth and the care of the baby and can still be found in the colder regions, such as Russia and Scandinavia. Scattered records of this link can also be found among certain indigenous tribes of North America. Whenever this link is found, there is often also found an associated use of species of Artemisia in midwifery or obstetrics.

In warmer parts of the world, the protective properties of heat and steam can also be related to hygiene, sanitation, and other factors contributing to childbirth, post-natal recovery of the mother, and care of the baby. The Aztecs, Zapotec, Mixtec, Mayans and other indigenous groups of Mexico have used the temazcal (a small domed adobe steam bathhouse) as an ideal medium for birthing babies; the warmth within is said to be not so drastically different from that of the womb (the uterine environment prior to delivery). Similar practices and beliefs can be found here and there throughout warmer parts of the world. In Thailand, new mothers, for example, spend at least a month after childbirth in a herbal steam bath tent with their babies close beside them.

Although evidence is very limited, it has been suggested by some authors (e.g., Mikkel Aaland & Bill Scherer) that Europeans, Russians, Nortic peoples, and even Native Americans, most all with shared genetic roots from Central Asia, could have had in common the portable sweat lodge similar to present day nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes (grasslands). The bountiful sagebrush (Artemisia) grass steppes of Central Asia could have been where the ancestors of Europeans, Russians, and Nortic peoples once shared many ideas with the ancestors of Native Americans before they migrated to Siberia and crossed the Bering Strait. This could be called the prehistoric Central Asian hypothesis for the origin of the sweat bath in the Northern Hemisphere. Since sagebrush was so common in these steppes, is it possible that these proposed sweat lodge practices could have been associated with the use of species of Artemisia or other herbs in childbirth? Mikkel Aaland points out that the Finns go back thousands of years to Central Asia when nomadic tribes began their migration westward and northward, to populate Southwestern Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Estonia, and finally Suomi (Finland). When the Finns were nomadic, they could have used a portable sweat lodge similar to those carried by the Native Americans and still sometimes seen among nomadic tribes in Central Asia and Siberia (e.g., portable "sweat-yurt" or "steam-yurt," a smaller tent, also called the yaranga, dikutia, or ger, made of animal skins or felt with a wooden frame and quickly assembled temporarily to serve as a steam bath). Once the Finns settled, they may have erected underground sweat houses, forerunners of the savusauna. The old Finnish sauna also was where children were born; old timers boast of being born in the sauna; and women (as in the Russian bathhouse) went through a purification ritual before marriage in the sauna. It would be interesting to see whether any traces of an association of Nortic species of Artemisia with the sauna and even childbirth are still to be found in Scandinavia. Artemisia absinthium (reported to be used in the steam or sweat bath by some Russians) is native to Europe (as far north as Finland) and Siberia. Finnish species of Artemisia (commonly called Marunat) are certainly considered medicinal plants, including Artemisia vulgaris (commonly called Gråbo, Maruna, Meripujo, Pujo, Rikkapujo, Yleinen maruna) and Artemisia absinthium (commonly called Mali, Malört, Koiruoho). There is one claim that Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is applied prior to entering the Finnish sauna. Due to the strong association of Artemisia with midwifery or gynecology among certain Native American tribes and Russians (including Baltic and Slavic peoples), the link between species of this genus, the sweat bath, and childbirth is much more evident. However, further evidence of this link may yet be found in Scandinavia and possibly even present day indigenous Central Asia. This would be especially significant for indigenous peoples of Central Asia or Siberia that have been isolated from more recent Russian influence.

Therefore, it has often been suggested that the sweat bath practices of Russians and Scandinavians may have originated in the remote past from Central Asia, because the ancestry of these peoples (as well as most Europeans and even Native Americans) is likely rooted in this region. However, problems in providing strong evidence for this scenario arise because similar practices are only recorded among the nomadic Scythians by one ancient historian during a period when already settled Scandinavians or Russians could have had the sweat bath and could have influenced later migrating peoples from Central Asia. When similar practices are found among presently living Central Asians, it is difficult to tell whether they stem from indigenous people of the remote past or have been introduced by Russians during more recent USSR occupation. Furthermore, sweat bath practices among presently isolated Central Asian or Siberian nomadic tribes are today relatively rare. It could be speculated that easy adaption by tribes of Central Asia and Siberia to Russian sweat bath practices may be an indication of prior indigenous use. The same could be said for Turkic tribes that migrated from Central Siberia, eventually overthrowing the Byzantine Empire and easily adopting the Byzantine and Roman steam bath, which later became the hammam or Turkish Bath. Therefore, when studying the steam bath of today in Siberia and even Alaska, it is often difficult to tell whether these practices were adopted from relatively modern Russian influence or originated from prior indigenous practice. Although paleolithic evidence is difficult to find, one possible indicator could potentially be used to trace the sweat lodge to the remote past. Even though not always conclusive proof, the accumulation of fire-cracked rock (especially burnt mounds in association with anomalous charcoal) in archeology "digs" strongly indicate use of the sweat bath. If water is poured onto hot stones, it causes the water to evaporate into steam. The process fractures the stones into the similar pieces to those found in the burnt mounds that accumulate at Native American sweat lodge sites. This specific shatter pattern can only be made when the stones are heated to a great temperature and then cooled rapidly with water. This indicator was used to identify a Bronze Age sweat lodge in Sutton Park, Birmingham, England. This was a structure constructed as a "Bender" from flexible wood. Long poles were placed in the ground in a circle about 10 feet wide. The flexible poles were then bent over and tied together to create a dome shape. Weaving wooden rods between gave the structure extra strength. When the structure was completed, a central pit was dug in which hot stones were placed. Charcoal found with the stones has been dated from 1500 to 1000 BC. Although this type of temporary or more portable sweat lodge is not always well preserved in the archaeological record, burnt mounds (fire-cracked rock), anomalous charcoal, and sometimes the presence of circular pole or post holes and central pits could be used as an indicator of prehistoric steam bath practices. Indicators of variations of this more temporary or portable type should be sought after in the Late Paleolithic or prehistoric Holocene (10,000 year old to more recent) archaeological deposits of Europe, Central Asia, Siberia, and North America. Because Artemisia is often associated with the sweat bath and even childbirth practices (at least among more current Russian, Slavic, Baltic, and Native American peoples), small localized accumulations of preserved seeds or pollen of this genus or other aromatic genera in these deposits could also provide added evidence of the potentially prevalent link between fire-cracked rock and prehistoric birthing processes, which could help close the "gap" between these practices in more recent Europe and North America and those of prehistoric Central Asia and Siberia.

It is speculated by some authors that the Native American use of the sweat bath likely can be said to stem from a somewhat uniform circumpolar culture, which may have its roots in Central Asia. Both Europeans and Native Americans at least have genetic roots in Central Asia. The circumpolar culture has certain shared traits that help to distinguish it from other cultures. For example, there was almost universal domestication and use of the dog as a draft animal. Since the Northeast Asian Arctic remained ice free during the last glaciation, this area of the circumpolar region was the first to be populated approximately 20,000-15,000 year ago by late Upper Paleolithic mammoth hunters, some of which migrated to North America. Even though probably rooted in central Asia, efforts to find a common origin for a general circumpolar culture have been unsuccessful. Consequently, its relative uniformity is thought to be more or less due to convergence (independent development of similar traits), because (at least by the end of the Pleistocene 12,000 years ago and the beginning of the Holocene 10,000 BP) the Arctic with only two main food resources, sea mammals and reindeer, together with less important supplements, provided relatively few options for successful cultural adaptation. The few food resources available happened to be abundant enough to allow prehistoric people to survive under harsh and very limiting conditions and, therefore, occupy all of the Arctic. It was only because of this that there developed a somewhat uniform culture and not because of a common origin. Very little current information on the use of Artemisia in the European sweatlodge is available (with the exception of more current Russian, Baltic, and Slavic use of this genus in childbirth). As reassessment of early Northern European archaeological evidence is underway to determine if some of the structures previously thought to have been granaries and storage buildings might have actually been sweat houses, the presence of anomalous charcoal, fire-cracked rock, and the remains of aromatic plants like Artemisia should be considered possible indicators of sweat bath practice. The more temporary or portable wooden framed type structures can also be associated with burnt rock mounds and charcoal. The identification of localized remains of seeds or pollen of Artemisia in conjunction with this other information would perhaps provide additional evidence that these structures were indeed sweat lodges. Therefore, predictions from comparative studies of current medicinal plant use may give archaeologist something to look for in their "digs" in the attempt to put information together in order to understand prehistoric behavior.

In contrast to the hypothesis introduced above, the following from Kehoe (2003) is an alternative (trans- or circum-North Atlantic migration) hypothesis for the origin of the sweat bath in the Northern Hemisphere:
One interesting custom shared by Scandinavians and American Indians is the sauna, or sweat-lodge. Both users believe its use promotes health. Sweat-baths were standard in pre-Columbian Mexico, again as means of restoring or maintaining health. The antiquity of the custom is ambiguous because small structures with a fire pit in the center could have been used to smoke meat or hides. Whether Americans taught it to Norse, or Norse to Americans, cannot be determined, but its near-ubiquity in America contrasted with limited historic distribution in Eurasia (Lopatin, 1960: 988-989) suggests Americans-to-Norse.
Actually, Lopatin (1960) suggested an origin of the sweat bath from Norse to Americans. This author distinguishes four types of baths: (1) Pool or the Plunge Bath, (2) Direct Fire Sweat Bath, (3) Water Vapor Bath, and (4) Mixed Type. He speculates that the water vapor bath originated from the direct fire sweat bath; and he merges both these types together as the sweat bath, because both have the same purpose of inducing sweating with the act of washing the body not specifically emphasized. He also speculates that the water vapor bath was invented in a northern country (not by the Suomi or Tavastlanders but by prehistoric predecessors of the Tavastlanders that lived in the territory that is now Finland). In turn, the Russians borrowed the steam bath from the Finns. It was known to the medieval Germanic peoples, but it was not likely native to the Germans and evidence indicates that this practice had come from the north. There is no mention of the old Irish or British sweat bath, but these practices could also have come from the Norse. It is emphasized that this type is common only in the countries with long cold winters, where it only much later diffused to warmer countries. It is found today in the Old World among the Great Russians, Swedes, Norwegians, people of Finland, the Estonians and the Latvians, people of Iceland, and among certain agricultural Finns, as well as in the New World among almost all the American Indian tribes in North America and some South American tribes. This author makes a point to emphasize that (prior to Russia influence) it has been historically absent from Central Asia, Siberia, and Eastern Asia. According to this author, the ancient Scythians of Central Asia and Siberia even perhaps learned it from Northwestern Europe, because there is no evidence that their close relatives (Massagetes, Sakas, Sogdians, Bactrians, Medes, and Persians) ever had it.

The sweat bath of both Northwestern Europe and North America commonly includes a sufficient number of specific enough commonalities to make it difficult to explain as an independent invention. These commonalities include often a small room or enclosure with little or no vents, steam generated by throwing water onto fire-heated rocks (commonly remaining as mounds), flagellation (light slapping of the surface of the body) with a broom or switch, use of fragrant herbs, and often related therapeutic, ritual, and social practices (sometimes associated with rites of passage). Alternative sweating and cooling, where the participant leaves the lodge and plunges into a stream, lake, pool, icy water, or rolls in snow, is a practice also found among cultures in both the Old and New World. Therefore, sweat lodges or steam houses are often built near bodies of water. The practice of building sweat baths as underground or semi-underground structures is also somewhat common to both the Old and New World. These are remarkable similarities that are numerous enough to be not easily explained as parallel (independent) developments. Among these commonalities, there should perhaps also be mentioned the use of the sweat bath in both the Old and New World in the birthing process, often with the incorporation of various species of Artemisia that are generally and strongly associated with midwifery/gynecology, hygiene/sanitation, and purification/protection from evil influences.

Some archaeologists appear to have become more aware of the possible connections between the occurrence of fire-cracked mounds and the birthing process. A quote from Elisabeth Beausang (2000) follows:
The association of fire-cracked mounds with birthing processes should not be excluded. ... The cleansing of the woman after birth is mostly done with either water or steam. Healing materials and balance-restorers, such as herbs and fragrant leaves, are commonly added to the bathing water or the vapor baths. The basic method for vapor baths is the transference of hot steam from heated stones by adding water and/or herbs. ... Aztec women and present-day orthodox Jewish women use steam baths after birth (Kay 1982:19). There are even examples of women giving birth in saunas (Vahros 1966). All these treatments are considered hygienic and healing as well as a means to keep evil away. ... cleansing is normally done in connection with childbirth, often using water or steam. This general behavior calls for some kind of bathing structure. Therefore, prehistoric structures like pits with fire-cracked stones should be of interest when searching for birth-related prehistoric contexts. The cleansing and washing can be sanitary, medical, social and ritual and can most probably be seen as an integrated part of childbirth in prehistoric times.

In contrast to the trans- or circum-North Atlantic migration scenario introduced above, the present remarkably similar Northwestern European and American sweat bath practices are viewed by the main alternative (Central Asian) hypothesis as only relics from once more widespread prehistoric practices in Eurasia and the circumpolar region with remote genetic ties to Central Asia. Although Lopatin (1960) points out that (aside from Russian influence) there is an apparent absence of the sweat bath in Central Asia and Siberia, the winter houses, half underground and well-closed, and heated by numerous hot stones, steam being produced by pouring water over them, is a practice among Paleo-Siberians, Aleuts and Inuits, and even possibly indigenous to the Ainu of Northeastern Asia that is difficult to segregate from those of the smaller sweat lodges. It is not apparent that the mixed type bath recorded since ancient times in Central Asia should be considered completely distinct from the sweat bath. Also, the smaller dwellings, such as gers or yurts of Western China and Mongolia, may be heated with water on hot rocks, so it is difficult to make the claim that the indigenous sweat lodge (independent of post-contact Soviet influences) is historically or even today totally absent from Central Asia and Siberia. This becomes apparent when taking into consideration the historical fact that people in both the Old and New World can sometimes live in sweat houses as more permanent dwellings, especially in colder regions or conditions. Furthermore, just because the Koryak and Chukchi of Siberia with a noted tendency to acquire various kinds of skin-disease were never known to wash with water does not mean that they never used the steam treatment by pouring water on fire-heated rocks. The Scythians, as recorded by Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, were said to never wash with water but instead used steam by pouring water on hot rocks. According to Paul S. Mayerhoff in 1936-1937, the Apache (recorded elsewhere to sometimes use dogs as draft animals and probably of near polar origin that migrated to the Southwest U.S.A.) often hardly bathed during winter. During the cold season a protective coat to provide warmth of tallow, dirt and skin secretions acted to close up all pores of the skin. However, in spring, they would often sprinkle water on hot stones to produce steam in the sweat lodge to soften, loosen and slough off the covering of filth. Although yucca root and water were used as a shampoo to finish up this process among the Apache, the lack of washing with water during cold conditions cannot be generally considered an index of the absence of the sweat bath. Even though some of the ideas proposed by Lopatin (1960) are not without problems, the overall coverage of historic sweat bath practices is quite informative.

The earliest burnt mounds often near watercourses with no evidence of cooking or animal bones that perhaps (?) qualify as indicators of the sweatbath in Europe can only be traced to the Late Neolithic (6500 BP or 4500 BC). They are called fulachta fiadh in Ireland and consist of burnt stones, mixed with black soil and charcoal found where the water table is close to ground level, along streams, spring wells, and in small peat basins. One in Britain was dated to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age transition approximately 3860 BP. Such mounds in Europe extend into the Bronze and Iron Age and even into the early Medieval period. According to Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Buckinghamshire: A Resource Assessment (by Kim Biddulph), there were a number of post-holes recorded at the latest burnt mound at Little Marlow dating to the Early Bronze Age. The post-holes were thought by excavators to support an awning (covering perhaps made from animal skins) set up over the edge of the stream. The awning or tarp was weighted down with large unburnt stones, that covered the edge of a now silted up palaeochannel, into which heated flints would have been thrown to create steam for a sauna (Richmond & Rackham 1999, 10; Richmond, Rackham & Scaife 2006, 95). This is perhaps the most convincing evidence of a 'sweat-lodge'. However, these burnt mounds in general could have also been used for various different purposes, including textile processing, leather working, and brewing of alcoholic beverages. Their use for cooking is least likely, since little or no settlement debre, cereal products, or animal bones can be found associated with them.

Late-Pleistocene species of Artemisia may likely have been among the core medicinal plants of Native Americans that once migrated from Arctic Siberia to Alaska. Although archaeological evidence is not yet available, human use of this genus could potentially be traced back to about 20,000 years ago in Northeastern Siberia and 500,000 square miles of ice-free, tundra (a treeless plain including grasses and low shrubby or matlike vegetation at the extreme northern limits of plant growth) and steppe (open grasslands but usually with less fertile soil than prairies) of Late Pleistocene Beringia. Although this once ice-free region (often referred to as the Beringian Ice Age refuge) is now mostly submerged beneath the Bering Strait, some of the included land area is still above sea level. Macrofossils of Artemisia frigida (prairie sage), bunch-grasses (those grasses that grow in tufts, clusters, or bunches), and forbs (plants herbaceous but not grasses or grass-like plants) have been found to be representative of ice-age steppe vegetation associated with Pleistocene mammals (e.g., woolly mammoth, horses, bison, and others) in eastern Beringia (present day Yukon Territory, Canada). From fossil pollen (microfossil) studies, there was a high proportion of various species of Artemisia (sage) and grasses of the family Poaceae sufficient to support large game mammals all year round. The plant macrofossils uncovered indicate that eastern Beringia was dominated by sage, bunch-grasses, grass-like plants (sedges and rushes), and forbs, such as Chenopodium (goosefoot), Potentilla (cinquefoil), Ranunculus (buttercup), Draba (mustard), Papaver (poppy), Androsace septentrionalis (airy-candelabra), Cerastium (chickweed), and Silene (campion). This assemblage of plants (with sedges and peat moss from deposits that were formed in low-lying wet areas) indicates that eastern Beringia during this period had a much more moderate climate than would be expected for Arctic Tundra, supporting what has been referred to as a "mammoth-steppe." Full-glacial climatic aridity (glacial dry conditions) of eastern Beringia that provided deep active layers of soil with high net insulation favored conditions like those found today in arid, south-facing slopes with well drained soils of Alaska and the Yukon, where sage and bunch-grass steppe can still be found. However, there is an absence of the combination of sage and bunch-grass macrofossils from central Beringia. This suggests that the steppe composition of plant species did not cover all of Beringia. Nevertheless, today the species Artemisia frigida itself extends into the Arctic and further south into Mexico and the Eastern European steppe, making it probably the most widely distributed species of its genus. Therefore, this species, as well as possibly others of the genus, were likely found here and there throughout Beringia. Among other rare plants of Chukotka (the Chukote Coastal Tundra) of Northeastern Siberia is found today the endemic species Artemisia senjavinensis (an arctic species of the genus not found anywhere else in the world). All this suggests that species of the genus as today extended into the Arctic of Northeastern Siberia and Beringia during the Late Pleistocene when humans occupied these areas about 20,000 years ago; and the higher abundance of big game animals would have provided much incentive to migrate into eastern Berangia with sage (Artemisia) and bunch-grass steppe and a more moderate dry climate.

No use of Artemisia in the native South American sweatlodge has yet been found (at least by this author), probably because the genus is a much rarer group of plants in South America with only a few indigenous species found in very few regions. Nevertheless, the overall use of this genus by natives of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina is similar to that of people in the circumpolar region and even Northern Europe. This may be significant, especially because (although rare in South America) the genus Artemisia is likely a member of the Upper Paleolithic core of Native American herbal medicine that can be potentially traced back to the Late Pleistocene about 20,000 years ago in ice-free Northeastern Siberia, including the grassy tundra and steppe of Beringia. When some Europeans very recently migrated to South America, they began using the indigenous Artemisia copa Philippi of Chile and Argentina in a way similar to their introduced European relative Artemisia absinthium L. This is another example of the general rule that settlers tend to use native plants with characteristics (morphology, taste, aroma, etc.) similar to plants of their original homeland, thereby enriching or sometimes reinforcing native traditional use. The native plant use was also enriched by the introduction of many non-native European traditional medicines to South America. However, the native use of endemic Artemisia copa (not found anywhere else in the world) is arguably a carry-over from the use of other species of the genus as people in the remote past migrated from the polar region of North America to South America. This is, of course, a debatable issue, where similarities between the use of this native South American Artemisia and species of the genus in the circumpolar region could just as well have been due to independent discoveries (convergences). It is also of interest to note that the use of Artemisia copa by European immigrants is generally not that different from the original use of this species by native people; and the native people have adopted the introduced Artemisia absinthium from the Europeans with similar use to their indigenous species.

The most common type of broom, switch, or whisk (Finnish vihta or vasta, Russian vennik or venik), used in the sweat bath for mild flagellation, is traditionally made from firm, pliable, leafy and fragrant bundles of birch branches. However, some are made by tying birch and cedar (juniper) or Artemisia branches together. These whisks are employed in slapping the surface of the body (referred to in Finnish as vihtoa) to stimulate blood circulation and cleanse the skin. In the Russian custom, magic powers were ascribed to the whisk or broom with which a new-born baby was given his/her first steam bath; it was later used in charms to cure childhood illnesses. Old Bohemian (German) bathhouse keepers employed "scrubbers," which seem to have been made of green branches tied to a stick in a bundle.

In the Americas, Caribou leaves (Artemisia tilesii Ledeb.) are "commonly used by Athabascans & Northwest Inuit in steam baths [http://www.alaskaherbtea.com/Foraging/caribou_leaves.htm]: bundles of plants are gathered & lashed together at the stalks, then used to gently flagellate swollen or arthritic joints, sprained or sore limbs, or any part of the body to enjoy the stinging sensation." See also rheumatic conditions. The indigenous Aleut/Unangax people of the Aleutian, Pribilof, and Commander Islands of Alaska use Artemisia vulgaris var. kamtschatica Bess. (= Artemisia unalaskensis Rydb.) in steam baths, slapping it gently against the skin. This species is also used for aches and pains by placing hot, steamed leaves on sore areas. Although "switches" could be made from materials other than bundled plants, flagellation appears to have been a common practice among a wide variety of North American Indian tribes (buffalo tails and eagle wings often used in sweat lodge for whipping the body, much like the Finnish vihta (vasta) or the Russian vennik). Archaeology "digs" at Afognak Island, dating finds that go back to 7000 years ago, have located fire-cracked rock that strongly indicates the indigenous (precontact) use of the sweat bath. Rock is heated by the historic Koniag people in a hearth in the central room of their house and then carried to a steam bath chamber, indicating a distinct difference in the native bath from the Russian bania or banya in which rock is heated and steamed in place. The combination of historical and archaeological evidence provide more clues that the steam bath is native and not just adopted from Russian influence. Sweat bath practices with heated rock also appear to have once been common to Inuit of Polar Siberia and North America (as well as the Koryak or Chukchi of Siberia). This is also true for the Aleut and Athabascan of Alaska. The Athabascan tribe called the Tanainas of Alaska still use Artemisia tilesii in the steam bath, although the stronger aroma of Artemisia alaskana is often preferred. They also make medicine switches to help arthritis and other aches" (Viereck, 1987, 1995).

In Alaska, Caribou leaves have also been used as a gynecological aid. For example, "the Tanainas soak Artemisia tilesii leaves in water and rub them on the bodies of pregnant women or put them on the stomach as a poultice" (Viereck, 1987, 1995). Artemisia furcata M. Bieberstein (Three forked mugwort, Three forked wormwood, Forked sagewort) was utilized by the Native Americans of Mendocino county as a poultice of leaves applied to promote circulation after labor during childbirth (Chestnut, 1902). This species is also known to extend as far north as the islands of the Bering Sea. Artemisia dracunculus L. (French tarragon, Tarragon, Wormwood, Artemisa, Dragoncillo, Estragon, Hierba niso, Hierba nora) was also used as a decoction of whole plant and taken to aid in difficult labor (Densmore, 1928). The Yuki of California used an infusion of plant Artemisia douglasiana Bess. (Estafiate, Mugwort) as a 'steam bath' to help overcome difficulties attending childbirth (Curtin, 1957). Like other species of the genus, Artemisia californica Less. (California sagebrush, Romerillo, Romerito) is reported to have been prepared as a decoction of plant and taken to initiate menstrual activity, ease childbirth, and assist in post natal recovery (Bean and Saubel, 1972). Infusion of plants of Artemisia tridentata (Basin sagebrush, Big sagebrush, Artemisa, Chamizo, Chamizo blanco, Chimizo granado, Chamizo hediondo, estafiate) is reported to have been taken by Navajo women as an aid for deliverance (Elmore, 1944). Decoction of leaves is reported to have been taken by Ramah Navajo for postpartum pain (Vestal, 1952).

Further south, according to the History of Mexico (1817, pgs. 248-250), "He then throws water on hot stones from which immediately arises a thick steam to the top of the Temazcalli. While the sick person lies upon a mat, the domestic drives the vapor downwards, and gently beats the sick person, particularly on the ailing part, with a bunch of herbs." The Mayans and others of Mesoamerica are also reported to have used the sweat bath and Artemisia during or after childbirth. As mentioned in the novel A Mayan Life by Gaspar Pedro Gonzales, the mother of a newborn "has to be very careful not to go uncovered, nor to touch cold water until she has bathed in the sweat bath. .... They should give the mother enough artemisia, alucema, pericon, and chicken soup with lots of mint."

Among certain Native American tribes (as in the Old World), species of Artemisia were also considered a protector of women in childbirth. It is interesting to note that species of Artemisia are used by some Native Americans not only for women in childbirth but also as a protector of the mother, father and the newly born infant. For example, an infusion of Artemisia douglasiana Bess. is used by Kawaiisu as a bath for the baby, as well as for both the mother and father, after childbirth (Zigmond, 1981).

The oldest written records of the use of medicinal plants in the genus Artemisia come from the Old World Mesopotamians and Ancient Egyptians. It is likely that the Ancient Egyptians were not yet familiar with common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) but used instead Artemisia herba-alba or Artemisia judaica, as listed as a worm medicine in the Ebers papyrus (a medical document dating to 1550 B.C.). These two species (especially Artemisia herba-alba) likely apply to the same wormwoods of Ancient Mesopotamia (recorded in cuneiform writing impressed upon clay tablets) and mentioned in the Judeao-Christian Old Testament. Species in this group are referred to in the Hebrew Bible (with La'anah possibly the Ancient Hebrew name for Artemisia herba-alba or some other species of the genus found in the Holy Land); and various species of the genus have been recorded as much used in Persian, Hindu, Greek, and Roman (as well as Chinese) ancient medicine. To this day, various species of the genus are highly regarded as medicinal plants among both Europeans and Native Americans. Apparently well documented use of Artemisia absinthium dates back some four to five hundred years before the birth of Christ. Mention of Artemisia absinthium and of other Artemisia species, and their use in Classical antiquity, can be found in the writings of Theophrastus and Hippocrates. Artemisia dracunculus var. inodora (Russia tarragon) also has a recorded use by the Greeks as early as 500 B.C. This variety of Artemisia dracunculus might have originated in Siberia with a traditional Persian history of use as a natural cleanser of the blood and for the treatment of headaches and dizziness. It has been widely cultivated in Central Asia as a condiment; and possibly somewhere in Central Asia is the original birth place of the variety now commonly called "French tarragon" or "German tarragon." Historically, the possible prehistoric association of Artemisia as protector of women in childbirth and the baby can be potentially traced to the Mother Goddess called Isis of Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Greeks and Romans also associated Artemisia with the childbirth Goddess called Artemis or Diana. According to some authorities, Artemis or Diana was actually a Greek and later Roman version of one of the many guises of Isis of Ancient Egypt. Among the Ancient Greeks, it was from Artemis, the protector of women in childbirth and especially the baby, that the genus Artemisia gets its name. From what has been discussed above, it would not be surprising that the Egyptian and classical association of Artemisia as protector in childbirth could have developed as a relatively recent but ancient historic retention of cultural knowledge from the remote (prehistoric) past. This could arguably be said to be supported by the association of Artemisia as protective plants for women in childbirth and the baby among ancient Europeans and certain present day Native Americans. This association is even linked to the potentially archaic sweatbath practices among Russian, Baltic and Slavic peoples, as well as certain tribes of Native Americans far removed from recent Russian influence. See sacred connection of medicinal herbs with the Deities. Could evidence be found for the association of certain species of plants with the "Venus" figurines of the Gravettians? More certainly, Artemisia had a strong association with old goddess religions and fertility rites of ancient Northwestern European peoples. The writings of the ancient Greeks provide clues that certain species of Artemisia growing in the Levant, the lands east of the Mediterranean, and more recently further west were long associated with female goddess worship and widely employed to facilitate childbirth. Early unwritten evidence of the use of species of Artemisia can help support the ancient written documentation. Artemisia species with a distinct longitudinal striation on the surface were found in samples from refuse deposits in Syria, dated back to the Bronze age. Artemisia vulgaris L. fruits dating back to the Neolithic and Iron age are very common findings in France. This Eurasian species (also spreading to western parts of North America) has an extensive ancient historical record of use in Europe.

By the first century A.D., Dioscorides praised Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), and ordered the flowering tops to be used just before they bloom. This species, as noted by Pliny also in the first century A.D., "doth properly cure womens diseases" (Gerard [1633] 1975:1104).
Dioscorides writes of Mugwort the following (according to Gerard's Herbal,
enlarged by Thomas Johnson in 1636):
That it bringeth downe the termes, the birth, and the after-birth.
And that in like manner it helpeth the mother, and the paine of the matrix, to bee boyled as baths for women to sit in; and that being put up with myrrh, it is of like force that the bath is of. And that the tender tops are boyled and drunke for the same infirmities; and that they are applied in a manner of pultesse to the share, to bring downe the monethly course.
See more comments above.

The strong association of the genus Artemisia as protector of women in childbirth and the baby in ancient historical times among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, when contrasted with more recent recorded Native American uses of these plants, may provide a window into folk uses that could stem from prehistory and even a shared, Ice Age tradition. Claude Levi-Strauss found that "in North America, as in the Ancient World, Artemisia is a plant with a connotation of feminine, lunar, nocturnal, mainly used in the treatment of dysmenorrhoea and difficult child births." Within or outside the sweatlodge, Native Americans alone have seemingly endless traditional uses of a wide span of species of the genus Artemisia in medicine for women and the newly born infant. A few of these uses have already been mentioned above. These plants were often used both externally and internally for the pains of labor and afterbirth, as well as a means of increasing the blood circulation of the mother during and after the birthing process. Numerous species of Artemisia were used by Native Americans as a steam bath or internally as a decoction of whole plants for difficulties attending childbirth; bundles of the plants could be tied around the mother; padding of plants were placed over hot coals as a bed, poultices of leaves were applied externally and infusions of whole plants were used as a wash or as a bath or taken internally as a general tonic for women after childbirth; sanitary napkins were sometimes made from the plants that were used to "heal the mother's insides" after a baby's birth or applied to the baby or used in diapers or even as a diaper for diaper rash and skin rawness; poultices of heated leaves were sometimes applied to the newborn baby's navel; pulverized leaves were used like a talcum powder for babies; the finely pulverized dried leaves were considered a baby powder; and a decoction was sometimes given to the baby a day or so after birth to internally "flush out the system."

Although Artemisia was brought into the sweatbath where babies in some cultures were once born (because it was so widely used in midwifery), species of this genus were, of course, also employed in the baths for other purposes. Many parallels in the uses of Artemisia in the sweat bath outside the domain of midwifery and gynecology can also be found in Europe, Asia, and North America. Again, plants in this genus were commonly believed to protect against (or expel) almost any form of evil. As most species are aromatic and have fragrance, they can be considered perfumes or incenses important for smudging or fumigation and to reduce the viral or bacterial count in the air. Purification from evil is commonly associated with the use of species of Artemisia. It has been noted by some authors that certain species of Artemisia mentioned in the Hebrew Bible were associated with the sorrow and bitterness of the curse of feckless judgement and may have served as a purge of repentance. According to some Native Americans from Nevada, "sinners" must bathe in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) to cleanse their "sins."

The major purposes of the sweat bath, such as ritual cleansing, hygiene/sanitation, claimed detoxification, purification/protection, including even its associations with rites of passage during birth, before marriage, and during or after the burying of the dead, appear to be strongly tied to a significant number of similar purposes and associations of Artemisia (used inside or outside the sweat bath). For example, the hygienic/sanitary influences of the heat of the sweat bath is consistent with the antiseptic/antibiotic actions of various species Artemisia. With respect to rites of passage, the Paiute and Shoshone tribes are reported to have administered a tea made from Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. ludoviciana in conjunction with a steam bath for young girls approaching sexual maturity. Although some of the uses of Artemisia may come close to what could be considered superstition, even some of the more esoteric uses, especially among Europeans, Asians, and Native American, are remarkably similar. The striking similarities in many of the esoteric uses may indicate the possibility of shared knowledge retained from the remote past; and these uses are at least much more difficult to reconcile as independent practices than those more easily defined as remedial or therapeutic. However, the common (perhaps superstitious) veneration of species of Artemisia, so frequently reported to have been employed as charms in these cultures, often makes it difficult to determine just where the remedial use of these species in traditional therapeutics begins. It was often used for bathing to drive away any evil influences and to protect an individual from the repercussions of violating certain ritual practices or due to inappropriate contact with sacred objects of power. At the beginning of ceremonies in some cultures of both the Old and New World, the participants would often brush or pat themselves with the leafy branches of certain species of Artemisia to be made spiritually clean, a form of ritual cleansing known in Spanish as limpia. Plants could also be used as a wash for participants after a ceremony. Of course, the silver green leafy branches (often in attractive bundles) were often used as ceremonial decorations in ritual dances in both Europe and North America. Although not all species are used to dispel negative influences and some of them have been used as charms to attract benevolent powers, the repellent nature of Artemisia appears to be the predominant theme. The members of the Chippewa tribe are said to have put fresh leaves of Artemisia frigida Willd. in their nostrils and mouth as protection when "working over the dead." It is interesting to note that species of Artemisia are widely used throughout the Old and New World to counter ghosts and keep almost any evil away, not only warding off demons but also preventing bad dreams. Evil spirits are thought to be repelled by placing a bundle of branches on window sills or other places in the house or by burning the aromatic parts as incense in fumigation. Species of Artemisia worldwide are among the most commonly used protective plants (together with Juniper and some others) associated with the "fear of the human dead, which, on the whole, has probably been the most powerful force behind the development of primitive religion" (George Frazer, 1922, The Golden Bough). Among the Lakota, sweetgrass is used for perfume and is burned as an incense in ceremony or ritual to induce the presence of good influences (benevolent powers), while wild sage, Artemisia ludoviciana, is burned to treat diseases by warding off demons, ghosts, and to exorcise any evil influences (malevolent powers). Europeans once had similar notions in association with the sweetgrass and species of Artemisia that still can be found wild in their region. The dry scale leafed twigs of aromatic Juniper (cedar) may also be widely used for perfume and burned as an incense for the purposes of attracting good powers, as well as exorcising negative influences of the dead. However, species of Artemisia are especially noted for their ability to eliminate not only evil spirits and avert calamity but also the influence of poisons, venomous snakes, or other harmful agents. In the 16th century English writings on Mugwort, John Gerard states that "Pliny saith, .... that he who hath it about him can be hurt by no poysonsome medicines, nor by any wilde beast, neither yet by the sun itself; and also that it is drunke against Opium, or the juyce of blacke Poppy." Druids and Anglo-Saxons considered Mugwort one of the nine herbs used to repel evil and poisons. North American natives from several tribes are reported to have used various species of Artemisia as antidotes for poison or "bad medicine" and even poison ivy or poison oak. Dioscorides recommended adding Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) juice to ink to keep mice away from the papyrus. Species of the genus are widely used as insect repellents and to counter airborne microorganisms or viruses. The use of Artemisia (as a vermifuge) to expel parasitic (intestinal) worms can be traced to the Papyrus Ebers of Ancient Egypt, the Materia Medica of Dioscorides, the Natural History of Pliny, and the history of the Aztecs of Mexico. Artemisia dracunculus [commonly called Tarragon, related to the Arabic name Tarkhun, possibly derived from Old Greek (perhaps) Drakon for "dragon" or "snake"] has a serpent-shaped rhizome; and there was a wide-spread belief that this species could not only ward off serpents and dragons, but could also heal snake bites. Thomas Hyll (1568) of England wrote that "No adder will come into a garden in which grow wormwood, mugwort and southernwood" and "should be aptly planted in the corners or round about the garden." An adder could be interpreted as a viper, serpent, or devil. There is even a legend that Wormwood sprang up in the trail of the serpent to prevent its return to the Garden of Eden. Aparently paraphrasing Dioscorides, Culpepper says that the Artemisia abrotanum seed "taken in wine is an antidote and driveth away serpents and other venomous creatures, as also the smell of the herb being burnt doth the same." It may be of interest to the reader that although much of this sounds like superstition, aqueous extracts of certain species of Artemisia (e.g., Artemisia herba-alba) have been found to inhibit the hemolytic activities of desert vipers (e.g., Cerastes cerastes) and scorpions (e.g., Leiurus quinquesteiartus). Strong infusions of Artemisia filifolia (Ramah Navajo), Artemisia tridentata (Kayenta Navajo), Artemisia judaica (Egyptians), and Artemisia herba-alba (Palestinians or Jordanians) have been purported to have been used successfully for certain snake bites.

It has often been claimed that the sweat lodge or steam bath can greatly assist in the elimination of toxins from the body by promoting excessive sweating. Such a process of elimination is often thought to be facilitated by ingesting diaphoretics or sudorifics like most species Artemisia that increase perspiration, because they together with the heat of the sweat lodge are thought to promote toxin release through the pores of the skin. However, scientific studies reveal that concentration of toxins or drugs in the sweat is negligible, as they are primarily removed from the body through the liver, kidneys, lungs, and intestines. Mostly, only salt and water are removed from the body by promotion of sweating. The contents of sweat include 99% water and a tiny percent of non-toxic salt, proteins, carbohydrates, and urea (a by-product of protein metabolism). Most excess urea is eliminated in urine and a very small amount in sweat. It most be regulated to keep a healthy blood pH. Although it is true that excessive sweating is one of the many possible symptoms of liver disease (often impairing this major detoxification organ), the claims that toxins stored in fatty tissue can be sweated out is not supported by modern toxicology. Heavy sweating can actually impair the body's natural detoxification system, causing dehydration to stress the kidneys and keep them from eliminating toxins. Sudorifics are often also claimed to assist the immune system and reactivity due to their ability to break a fever. This may also be questionable. It is not increased perspiration but heat itself that enhances immune system function. More than two thousand years ago, the Greek physican Hippocrates wrote "Give me the power to create a fever, and I shall cure any disease." The heat itself of the sweat lodge like fever can stimulate the immune system, as well as trigger the production of white blood cells (leukocytes) by the bone marrow and killer T cells by the thymus. Heat also increases the rate of release of white blood cells into the blood stream, the generation of antibodies, and the production of the antiviral protein called interferon. All this can slow down the reproduction and growth of bacteria and viruses.

The use of species of Artemisia as an incense or in the vapors of the steam bath (like the more esoteric uses) can also appear to often merge with both external and internal uses of these plants for purification/protection, hygiene/sanitation, psychoactivity, aromatic or bitter digestive action, and pain relief, including general analgesic and even liniment action. Again, a significant number of these purposes and associations of Artemisia (used inside or outside the sweat bath) appear to be consistent with those of a ritual or therapeutic bath, including the sweatlodge or comparable practices. Russian peasants thought that the bitter taste of Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) was because of the herb's "absorption of bitter human suffering." Artemisia herba-alba, Artemisia judaica, and Artemisia arborescens (among a few other less likely species of the genus common in Palestine, notably in tablelands and in deserts) could all have been denoted by the Hebrew word la'anah, which in the Bible together with the word rosh (for gall) appears to be associated with sorrow and bitterness. The intense bitterness in itself via stimulation of the taste buds and salivary glands can have complex therapeutic actions on the gastrointestinal tract. See use of the bitter property in treatment of diabetes and liver disorders (including Bìlis). European women in times of old applied the bitter Artemisia absinthium to their nipples to encourage the weaning of babies. There is fragmentary evidence that some of the bitter and aromatic species found in Palestine were once incorporated into a bitter wine with pain relieving properties given during the coarse of execution to victims by the "daughters of Jerusalem." Such a wine (although denied) may have been offered to Jesus on the Cross. A fragrant but intoxicating incense, made from the immature leaves and inflorescence (the congested grouping of small head-like flower clusters) of Artemisia brevifolia Wall. ex DC., is inhaled by the Bhotia tribes to help endure the cold Indian Himalayan winters.

Artemisia argyi, Artemisia douglasiana, Artemisia indica, and Artemisia vulgaris (commonly called Mugwort) are known to induce lucid, conscious dreaming. Although some may associate the induction of such vivid dreams with nightmares, it is often believed by several Native American tribes that species of this genus can protect one from dreaming about the dead. In European folk tradition, Mugwort was put into dream pillows to keep bad dreams away, although Artemisia verlotorum Lamotte = Artemisia dubia Pampanini (Chinese wormwood or Verlots mugwort) is the more favored aromatic herb for stuffing pillows to ensure a deep and restful sleep, because it has a stronger and more pleasant essential oil odor that lasts for many months. The intoxicating action (psychoactive effect) of certain species of Artemisia may be due at least in part to the volatile, simple terpene chemicals, alpha- and beta-thujones, in the essential oil. The induction of conscious dreaming may be due to thujones possibly in combination with other dream inducing chemicals. Although there is much variability, overlapping, and scattering in the distribution of thujones and other dream inducing chemicals, the thujones tend to accumulate most frequently in the subgenus Absinthium, while the other dream inducing chemicals tend to center in the herbaceous members of the subgenus Artemisia most closely related to Mugwort. See more on thujones below. Although the induction of lucid dreams by certain species of Artemisia is likely to have a chemical basis, it is also likely that some of these chemicals or their break-down products have not yet been identified or if identified, their chemical structures have not yet been correlated with the induction of conscious dreaming. See below.

When used in the hot Russian steam bath, the aromatic aroma of Artemisia absinthium is claimed to act as a natural antidepressant, creating a cheerful mood. Mexican curanderos recommend that their students or apprentices hold a fresh or dried leaf of Artemisia absinthium or Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. mexicana under the tongue to enhance mental concentration and memory. Russians have reportedly used Artemisia absinthium (probably in preparations with relatively low concentrations of volatile thujone) for depression and neuroses. The Ancient Greek Hippocrates recommended the leaves of this species (sometimes infused in wine) to treat memory loss in the elderly (in addition to menstrual pains, jaundice, and other conditions); and this crude herbal preparation has recently been shown to have similar effects to drugs used to treat Alzheimer's disease. Although this species and others can induce stimulating mental clarity, continued, habitual use of these plants for this purpose can (due to the volatile thujone content) cause nervous problems and convulsions. This is especially true for higher dosages or more concentrated preparations used internally. For example, the highly concentrated distilled alcoholic preparation called Absinthe, containing Artemisia absinthium or other species (with high amounts of thujone), was once found to have dangerous and addicting side effects (leading to chronic poisoning), but less concentrated ancient wines called Apsinthion, Absinthites, Abrotoninos, and Abrotonit, containing sometimes the same species, were found to be less hazardous and often considered healthful. Actually, it is not even clearly established that thujone is the major toxic chemical in Artemisia absinthium, because this plant is a complex mixture of other chemicals, some of which may be unidentified toxins; and to make thing more complicated, Absinthe is a combination of Artemisia with several other aromatic plants, so the most important toxic substance(s) causing the adverse reactions may even come from one or more of the other plants. Some authors have suggested that the name Wormwood originates from the property of these plants in ridding the body of worms. However, the name Wormwood may actually be derived from the German Wermut, meaning "preserver of the mind," because the herb was known to enhance mental functions. If not used habitually, it strengthens tired backbones, soothes spinal irritability, clears the mind, and provides tone to persons of a highly nervous temperament. Old English wer-mod (vermod) for "man-courage" may be related to the old German words wermut, wermodaz, and wermuota, which appear similar to the French Vermouth, an alcoholic beverage containing Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) or the related species Roman wormwood (Artemisia pontica). "Man-courage" may also be related to the property of Wormwood to counteract "faintness of heart" or even dizziness. The use of certain species of Artemisia in alcoholic beverages for counteracting airsickness, mountain sickness, and seasickness, as well as for faintness or near-swooning, also suggest a central nervous system stimulating property. The leaves of Artemisia abrotanum (commonly called Southernwood), growing wild in Southern Europe and temperate Asia, are used as a central nervous system stimulating tea. This species is likely not native to but naturalized in Spain, Italy and other Mediterranean countries. It is likely only native to temperate, western Asia. Some Native Americans have been reported to use the blossoms of Artemisia tridentata dipped in water and the blossomed branch used to comb the hair for fainting spells. This species is native to the western part of North America, including New Mexico.

Even though the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates of Cos (ca. 460 B.C.-ca. 377 B.C.) is credited with first infusing True wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) into wine as mostly a digestive remedy, it is said that Pythagoras recommended it soaked in wine to aid labor in childbirth. See names of some of the ancient wines made from Wormwood or related species. The more modern versions called Wermut Wein of Germany or Vermouth of France, now prepared predominately from the more mild Artemisia pontica L., are certainly not that harmful to the nervous system. Pastis originally made with Artemisia absinthium was at one time a similar liqueur to the more dangerous Absinthe. Only small amounts of thujone are present in the less dangerous Vermouth, Chartreuse, and Benedictine. The Hebrews are known to infuse Artemisia herba-alba Asso. in wine (possibly also other species, such as Artemisia judaica); and in South Europe, especially Spain, Artemisia barrelieri Ben. is used to make the strongly aromatic Algerian Absinthe. Other species, such as highly aromatic Artemisia maritima, are also used to flavor alcoholic beverages. People from Spain refer to the species Artemisia judaica by the common names Artemisa judaica, Chihai, Mantina, or Santonico; Artemisia barrelieri is referred to as Bolina or Tomillo negro; Artemisia maritima is called Ajenjo marino, Ajenjo marítimo, or Sêmen-contra; Artemisia herba-alba is called artemisa judaica, chihai, or mantina; and Artemisia abrotanum is called abródiga, abrótamo, abrótano, abrótano macho, ajenjo moruno, boja, boja común, botija, brótano, cidronela, hierba lombriguera, incienso, or yerba lombriguera. The European Spanish names for Artemisia absinthium include absentio, absincio, absinçio, absinthio, absintio, absinto, absynthio, absyntio, acencio, acíntheo, acintro, ajenjo, ajenjo común, ajenjo macho, ajenjo mayor, ajenjos, ajorizo, alosna, aluina, alvina, artemisa, artemisia amarga, asenjo, asensio, asentos, citronela maior, cuabilla, doncel, encienso de Andalucía, ensensio, ensensio común, erva dos vermes, grande absinto, herva dos vermes, hierba santa, incienso ajenjo, incienso de Andalucía, losna, losna da humpata, losna maior, or sintro; and Artemisia pontica is called ajenjo menor, ajenjo póntico, ajenjo romano, or pontico. In Spain, one can still buy the more toxic alcoholic drink called Absinthe made from the often cultivated Artemisia absinthum, because unlike many other countries, it was never outlawed there. The Spanish call it Absenta. The name Genepi or Armoise can apply to almost any plant of the genus Artemisia. However, in parts of Spain and the Italian or Swiss Alps, the name Genepi also applies to aromatized alcoholic beverages made from certain of wild species of Artemisia. Some of these species have been introduced into local cultivation. People from Spain sometimes refer to the species Artemisia mutellina Vill. [= Artemisia laxa (Lam.) Fritsch] by the common name Génépi. The common name Genepi can also be applied to the species Artemisia rupestris grown in Spain but found native throughout Asia or parts of East & North Europe, as well as Yukon Territory of North America. Some of the beverages called Genepi of the mountains of Central Europe with high alcohol content that could potentially concentrate alpha- and beta-thujones to fairly toxic levels are made from the local species Artemisia umbelliformis Lam., Artemisia genipi Weber, and Artemisia petrosa (Baumg.) Jan. Nevertheless, lower alcohol content Genepi can be considered much safer. The much less aromatic Artemisia glacialis L. (commonly called Glacier wormwood, Genipi, Alpine mugwort) is sometimes used, while the highly aromatic Artemisia genipi = Artemisia spicata Wulf. ex Jacq. and Artemisia mutellina Vill. are claimed to be more valued for use in liqueurs or infusions. Nevertheless, Glacier wormwood is said to have similar medicinal properties (digestive, expectorant, sedative and stomachic) to Common wormwood (Artemisia absinthum). Artemisia umbelliformis (called White Genepi, sometimes Yellow Genepi) is considered one of the main symbols of the Swiss Alps, while Artemisia petrosa ssp. eriantha is commonly used for Genepi in the central Apennines, where it has become an endangered species due to indiscriminate harvest of wild populations for commercial purposes, mainly liqueur production. Most of the species used for Genepi are known for their digestive, eliminative, expectorant, neurotonic, sedative, and stimulating properties and are considered medicinal by mountain dwellers, which use them to stimulate the appetite and treat digestive spasms, "chills" (fever), mountain sickness, and respiratory problems.
The herbal preparation called Lomatrol is a 45% ethanol extraction of the combination of Artemisia absinthum (common name: Wormwood: family: Asteraceae), Carum carvi fruit (common name: Caraway; family: Apiaceae), Foeniculum vulgare fruit (common name: Fennel; family: Apiaceae), and Mentha X piperita (common name: Pipermint; family: Lamiaceae). It has been found that Lomatrol provides statistically significant better results for the treatment of upper abdominal complaints than the synthetic drug metoclopramide (Westphal et al., 1996). The aromatized alcoholic beverages mentioned above are often considered a digestive remedy; and some of them, including the more dangerous Absinthe, are combinations of certain species of Artemisia with several other aromatic plants. Although Native Americans are not known to traditionally infuse species of Artemisia in wine or alcohol, some of their digestive remedies are reported to have been prepared (using heat and water) as strong decoctions or infusion of Artemisia administered orally.

The medicinal actions of the thujones and other dream inducing chemicals appear to be somewhat distinct, because Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) with only a tiny amount of alpha- or l-thujone [= (-)-3-isothujone] and no beta- or d-thujone is a strong dream inducing plant. The two versions of the chemical structure of thujone (alpha- and beta thujone) are like (non-superimposable) mirror images of each other, so they are called stereoisomers. Therefore, thujone can be said to comprise two stereoisomers, alpha- and beta thujone. When present in sufficient amounts, alpha-thujone is at least one of the chemical compounds in certain species of Artemisia that is responsible for marked narcotic or general analgesic (pain relieving) action. It is the major component of the essential oil of Wormwood (Artemisia absinthum). This volatile chemical compound, also called (-)-3-isothujone, has a pain killing effect comparable to codeine; and the species called Caribou leaves [Artemisia tilesii (= Artemisia tillisii)], with properties similar to codeine, is reported to have been used as a Native North American analgesic. Although all the mechanisms of action are not completely understood, alpha-thujone appears to act at a specific pharmacological (receptor) site and is at least one of the components of Wormwood and related species that influence mental clarity. However, at higher (toxic) doses alpha-thujone can cause convulsions. Thujone is considered a psychoactive convulsant. It can accumulate in the body due to habitual use, causing many serious side effects. It is likely that thujone and chemically related terpenes play an important role in toxicity. However, species of Artemisia can produce a complex mixture of bioactive chemicals; therefore, other compounds are also possible sources of toxicity. It is not even clear that the species of Artemisia used in Absinthe is the major source of the toxicity of this beverage. This is because, although Artemisia absinthum appears to be at least considered the most important component in Absinthe, several other unrelated species are added that could potentially be a source of toxic substances. However, it is fairly clear that the essential oil or tincture of Artemisia absinthum alone can cause (when habitually used) a neurotoxic syndrome called absinthism, characterized by giddiness, disorientation, delirium, hallucinations, restlessness, vomiting, dizziness (vertigo), tremors, and epileptic-like siezures (convulsions). It is also fairly clear that thujone in sufficient amounts can be considered psychoactive. However, Artemisia nilagirica with only tiny amounts of thujone is also considered a psychoactive plant. Therefore, psychoactivity in certain species of the genus can be due to other possibly unknown chemicals, which may or may not also occur in Artemisia absinthum.

When the dry or water soaked Artemisia absinthium plant is placed on the hot stones, the inhaled aromatic oils or vapor are said (by some Russians) to not only stimulate mental clarity but also increase sweating, help one to sweat longer, and endure hotter temperatures in the sweat bath. Some Native Americans refer to brushing the body with Artemisia bundles as "putting it on," because the pleasant aromatic scent can often temporarily linger around the parts of the body where it is applied. Even the breathing in of the volatile oils from the leaves of various species of Artemisia is purported to counter headaches and dizziness (e.g., Russian tarragon as recorded in traditional Persian history). It may also have a similar action when incorporated into a sweat bath broom. Furthermore, species of Artemisia (some known to contain camphor, borneol, bornyl acetate, cineol = cineole = eucalyptol, or related chemical compounds) can act as a liniment, which can be enhanced by wrapping the bundles around hot rocks and applying this combination to sore or inflamed parts of the body. Enhanced liniment action may also be achieved in conjunction with hot baths by slapping bundles gently against the skin, especially for swollen or arthritic joints and sprained or sore limbs. See also rheumatic conditions. Many species of Artemisia with sweat inducing and pore opening action are referred to as diaphoretics or sudorifics. Teas of these species have often been drunk to induce perspiration and the opening of pores in conjunction with hot baths, steam treatments, or sweat lodge for liver problems. Plant remedies with "warming" diaphoretic effects have been often claimed to act as sudorifics that affect the liver and detoxification systems due to their ability to increase perspiration, and promote toxin release through the pores of the skin. However, as mentioned above, it is probably unlikely that promotion of sweating in itself promotes much elimination of toxins. Sudorifics are often also claimed to assist the immune system and reactivity due to their ability to break a fever. As mentioned above, this may also be questionable. If the pore opening effects of sudorifics do not assist in much toxin elimination through perspiration, they more certainly assist in entry through the pores of the medicines used in hot baths or in the medicinal steam vapors often employed in the sweat lodge. Species of Artemisia are also widely used as depuratives or eliminatives (remedies claimed to encourage one or more of the body's eliminatory functions) for the purpose of toxin removal. Sweat induction and pore opening is often traditionally associated with peripheral vasodilation, circulatory stimulation, bronchodilation, respiratory stimulation, and "warming" expectorant action. This complex of activities is often employed in treatment of catarrh (often lung or upper respiratory congestion), fever, and hepatitis. Medicinal plants in this genus are often used to treat certain syndromes, particularly those which are sometimes referred to as 'toxic' (e.g., migraine headaches, chronic skin disease, allergies, inflammatory or other bowel disease, and, of course, constipation). These syndromes are often lumped together in the Mexican or Latin American category Bìlis. Most species are aromatic, intensely bitter (a property often associated with plants used in the treatment of Bìlis), and widely used internally to stimulate the appetite and treat liver and other digestive problems. Hippocrates prescribed Artemisia absinthium leaves soaked in wine for anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin caused by liver disorders). Hepatoprotective (liver protecting) activity counteracting certain toxins has been confirmed for Artemisia maritima water-methanol extracts. Other species of the genus have also shown similar liver protecting action. In addition to the diaphoretic or sudorific and cholagogue or choleretic (bile-stimulating) activity of most of the species, chemical compounds (types of coumarins) of some of these plants that inhibit protein breakdown (highly active protease inhibitors, such as N1, N5, N10-tri-p-coumaroylspermidine from Artemisia caruifolia) may have potential value in treating hepatitis caused by virus and have often been used to treat virally caused coughs, colds and influenza.

Among Native Americans, branches of Artemisia douglasiana are reported to have been put over a bed of ashes and slept on for fevers or colds. They also used the branches of Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. ludoviciana as a bed in a sweatbath to steam out infection of influenza. Burning branches of Artemisia tridentata could be used as an inhalant or fresh leaves stuffed into the nostrils for head colds; a poultice of fresh, mashed leaves were applied for chest colds; and a decoction of leaves could be generally taken for colds. Some of these species are only found in North America. However, a widespread species like Artemisia vulgaris could be used for similar conditions here and there throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

The heat from the sweat bath likely greatly enhances the anti-rheumatic effects of the medicine switches made from bundles of the leafy branches of Artemisia. Part of a branch from Artemisia or related genera is reported among certain Native tribes of North America and the Bedouins of the Judaeo-African deserts to be burned down to the surface of the skin at specific points on the body. This could be construed as similar to the moxa of traditional Chinese medicine. A fire could also be built in a pit and allowed to burn until only embers remained. The hot embers could then be covered with Artemisia branches (or the patient could be wrapped with Artemisia branches) and the patient could then be made to lie over the steaming pit covered with a blanket. Such treatment could be continued over several hours. Another method of treating rheumatic conditions consisted of wrapping bundles of whole crushed leaves around the affected parts followed by the application of heat from hot stones.

Although it is hard to include all the medicinal details of every plant in this large genus (each species often used to treat numerous ailments), among many other properties not listed, some antihistamine activity has been demonstrated in at least preliminary tests of several of the species. Many species of Artemisia are widely used as hemostats (to help stop bleeding). By shortening bleeding time and hastening blood coagulation, this includes treatment of hemorrhage due to injury, as well as bleeding associated with menses, labor, or pregnancy. Some species of the genus have azulenes of various kinds in their essential oils. Artemisia arborescens naturalized in the Pacific Northwest U.S.A. has the highest amount of chamazulene of any essential oil known with no detectable amounts of thujone. This is a deep blue-black colored high chamazulene type of essential oil of value in treatment of pimples and inflammation of the skin. Chamazulene (1,4-dimethyl-7-ethylazulene) is a specific type of azulene used widely as an anti-inflammatory and antiallergenic agent. Important properties of Artemisia useful to cardiovascular health may include antihypertensive (blood pressure lowering), antilipidemic (fat lowering), cholesterol lowering, and blood sugar lowering activity. The coumarin chemical called scoparone, identified in Artemisia tridentata and other species of the genus, has been shown to have both antihypertensive and antilipidemic or hypolipidaemic activity. The property of bitterness (associated in Artemisia with sequiterpene lactone chemicals) may in itself be responsible for beneficial sugar level modulating action. When Artemisia tridentata (common name: Big sagebrush) is taken as a mild tea regularly over sustained periods of time, the bitter action in conjunction with properties useful to cardiovascular health and proper exercise may help in keeping diabetes under control. The Chinese Artemisia scoparia and the Near Eastern, North African Artemisia herba-alba have been confirmed to have similar antidiabetic actions. Artemisia absinthium is still considered one of the most powerful herbs used for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant diseases. In the past it was widely used to expel round worms (see also above). Its use in the more dangerous alcoholic beverage Absinthe was originally employed by the French to protect soldiers in North Africa from malaria and other diseases. The herb itself has been widely considered a general remedy for fever. Pronounced antimalarial and some anticancer properties have been confirmed in certain species (e.g., sesquiterpene lactone called artemisinin or related chemical compounds produced by Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and Asian Artemisia annua). The species Artemisia annua (common names: Annual wormwood, Sweet Annie; in Chinese, Qing hao), the Mexican and US Southwestern Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. mexicana (common name: Estafiatae), and some others of the genus can be used to kill the malaria organism and human cancer cells, because these cells contains lots of iron and some of the nonvolatile sesquiterpene lactones produced by these plants selectively kill cells that have an abundance of iron in them.

The genetic link between Native Americans and Europeans (both with ancestors from Central Asia) is probably remote enough to assume that any correlation in use of Artemisia species by these two groups can be considered as an independent development (a convergence). It is more likely that these correlations are due to the close genealogical relationship between the plants (closely related plants often so similar that they share many medicinal properties in common) and much less likely due to the preservation of the cultural heritage of a remote common human ancestor in Central Asia. Even though this might be the most likely scenario, we should not lose sight of the fact that human population geneticists now have Y chromosome evidence that around 40,000 years ago the common ancestor of both Europeans and Native Americans had descendants that resided in the bountiful sagebrush grass steppes of Central Asia for 10,000 years. After the ancestors of present-day Native Americans separated from Central Asia and moved to the Arctic Circle, they may have preserved some of the tradition of their prior homeland through the use of arctic species of Artemisia found in Siberia and Alaska. Since species of Artemisia are also found in Europe, the same process could have taken place among the migrating Central Asian ancestors of Europeans. Again, migrating human populations in new and unfamiliar territories often select plants for use that are similar and often closely related to familiar resources of their prior homeland. I have only begun to test this hypothesis by observing the selection of medicinal and food plants in the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico by migrants originally from Asia. The preliminary results appear supportive. Could this have been a way by which some of the 40,000 year old medicinal heritage of Central Asia (for the use of Artemisia) was preserved among these remotely related peoples?? The connection of Artemisia with protection in childbirth and even the sweet lodge treatments during delivery could have perhaps been shared knowledge between the ancestral Europeans and Native Americans that once lived together in Ice Age Central Asia. Other correlations in the uses of Artemisia by these now widely separated "native peoples" of Europe, Central Asia, and North America are so numerous, even including common elements of ritual and several so-called superstitions, that it is hard to see how all these correlations together could have developed independently. When such a situation exists, it becomes difficult to distinguish independent development (convergence) from shared knowledge of the remote past that could have been preserved among widely separated migrating peoples. Therefore, such a possibility of shared knowledge from the remote past is conservatively treated the same as an independent development, because any common knowledge retained for such a long period of time should be expected to have similar (if not greater) statistical significance.

Even if the "gap" between practices in more recent Europe and North America and those of prehistoric Central Asia and Siberia could be somehow bridged by archaeological evidence for the use of Artemisia in the sweat bath during childbirth, some may argue that this could never be claimed to demonstrate a common origin of these practices (any more than domestication and use of the dog as a draft animal could be used as supportive evidence of a common origin of a circumpolar culture with genetic roots in Central Asia). Nevertheless, whether the link between Artemisia, childbirth, and the sweat bath was independently invented over and over again or shared by genetically linked peoples of the remote past that are now widely separated, it may provide a window into behavior that could potentially be common to prehistoric cultures over very wide geographical regions. It could also provide at least supportive evidence to help to isolate at least one center for the development of the sweat bath, which could have occurred in Central Asia and subsequently spread to Late Paleolithic Europe and the Americas. If this link could be traced to the late Upper Paleolithic of Central Asia, this would very likely be an example of a extremely archaic practice that occurred in the major center for species diversity of the genus. Even if developing independently in various circumpolar regions of the Old and New World, its later diffusion to warmer areas in the Northern Hemisphere would be expected to have taken place in the remote past.

The remarkably similar Northwestern European and American sweat bath practices plus the historically recorded use of the sweat bath in both Eurasia and the Americas in the birthing process, often with the incorporation of various species of Artemisia, can be viewed together with a remarkably large number of similar practices in the use of Artemisia by Europeans, Central Asians, and Native Americans both within and outside the domain of the sweat bath or midwifery/gynecology. The similar sweat bath practices alone are numerous enough to be hard to reconcile solely in terms of independent invention. However, when they are linked to similarities in the use of Artemisia in childbirth plus the additional commonalities in the use of Artemisia within or outside the sweat bath, including the many commonalities in the superstitious and ritualistic veneration of these closely related species (often even associated with rites of passage), it becomes much harder to explain all this as convergent practices.
William Chase Stevens (1961, p. 422) wrote in Kansas Wild Flowers:
In the New World, as in the Old, the lives of the natives were intimately and vitally related to the plant population, and it need not surprise us that our Indians put the indigenous Artemisias to much the same medicinal uses as the early Europeans and Asiatics did theirs; but that our Indians should have, as they did, the same kind of superstitions about the Artemisias and use them in similar rites and ceremonies, with confidence in their magic powers is amazing.
A somewhat comprehensive survey of uses (including some "superstitions") and medicinal properties of Artemisia is included above in 15 consecutive paragraphs.

Human population genetics (archaeogenetics) may help to track migration routes in new and unfamiliar territories of pre-historic human populations that may have often selected plants for use that were similar and often closely related to familiar resources of their prior homeland. Rare archaeological discoveries of plant remains associated with human use, including likely markers of the sweat bath, could potentially be traced to the late Upper Paleolithic. This may provide additional evidence to help us understand how some of the Ice Age medicinal heritage of Central Asia (for the use of plants like Artemisia) could be preserved among remotely related peoples (Europeans, Central Asians, and Native Americans). In the mean time, predictions based on comparative ethnopharmacology about likely prehistoric uses of plants based on recorded folk uses of widely separated peoples known to have been in contact in the remote past may give archaeologist something to look for in their "digs" in the attempt to put information together in order to understand prehistoric human behavior.

Notes

John Gerard (1545-1612) was an English surgeon, successful gardener, and apothecary to James I.
Some of his better known writings can be found in the following books:

Although there are not yet any indications of sweat lodge practices, the remains from the Gravettians could be considered the first Antonomically Modern Human (AMH) and European technology of the steppes. This culture is associated with small pointed bladelets with blunt but straight backs, "Venus" figurines, construction (in Eastern Europe) of large skin tents on mammoth bone frames, the first large and semi-permanent camps, the first spear throwers, and eyed needles. Could the famous "Venus" figurines (e.g., Venus of Lespugue) that were in the European late Upper Palaeolithic once made by Gravettian artists have been associated with certain plants? See sacred connection of medicinal herbs with the Deities. Although there is yet no evidence that the sweat lodge was ever used by the Gravettians (much less that it might have been used as a birth hut), certainly species of Artemisia would have been available to these pre-historic people of likely Central Asian origin.

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