Egyptian mummies are looted to fill the shelves of European dispensaries; a community in the Alps defies science with a toxic supplement; and in an ancient Mayan kingdom, remnants of a sweat bath provide clues to early maternal health.

An 18th-century cup promising universal healing conceals a deadly secret. Roman army medics display remarkable ancient care. And fragile bamboo scrolls hint at the origins of ancient Chinese medical traditions.

Grim discoveries aboard a sunken wreck reveal the horrors of pirate medicine at sea. The remains of ancient Peruvians bear the markings of strange surgical experimentation. And a drug-laced latrine leads us to a historic American foot trail.