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.

A Roman incantation is wielded to ward off disease, unusual remedies carved in Chinese grottos provide ancient medical advice, and a fossilised squid in a medieval Polish grave reveals ancient medical magic.

During times of war and plague, barber surgeons provide medical interventions. Astrologer-physicians look to astrological charts to treat their patients. And groundbreaking surgical practices arise from an innovative figure in ancient India.