Off the coast of Tuscany, a sealed Roman medical chest contains a trove of ancient vials and the oldest medicinal tablets ever analyzed. Surviving tinctures echo modern remedies used to treat ocular ailments. In the Levant, vessels shaped like poppy pods hold traces of the world's oldest known medicinal plant: the opium poppy. Were potent concoctions made from poppy used to heal the sick? Or were they used in post-mortem rituals to guide the dead? In the caves of Borneo, a 31,000-year-old skeleton with a curious amputation challenges everything we thought we knew about prehistoric surgery.