Boy stepped over billiards and survived surgery more than 30,000 years ago: the oldest evidence of surgical amputation found in a skeleton in a cave in Indonesia, a study reviews the history of medicine.
To date, the oldest evidence of a surgical intervention of this type dates back 7,000 years, updated in 2010 in a Neolithic site in France (Seine-et-Marne): the amputation of an elderly man’s arm, obviously successful because the image of the old bones revealed signs of scarring.
In general, scientists agree in linking the appearance of the first medical practices with the Neolithic revolution some 10,000 years ago, when agriculture and sedentarization brought to light hitherto unknown health problems.
Bones discovered in 2020
But the excavation of human remains at least 31,000 years old in the Indonesian part of Borneo alters this view by revealing that hunter-gatherers performed the surgery thousands of years earlier than estimated.
The discovery “rewrites our understanding of this medical know-how,” explained paleontologist Tim Maloney of Griffith University in Australia, who led the study published Wednesday in Nature.
The bones had been unearthed in 2020 in the imposing limestone cave of Liang Tebo, known for its cave paintings. Among the countless bats, terns, swifts and even some scorpions that inhabit the site, paleontologists delicately removed the sedimentary layers and found the burial of a remarkably preserved skeleton.
Only his left ankle and foot were missing. The end of her remaining leg bone showed a “sharp oblique cut, which you can see by looking through the bone,” Tim Maloney told a news conference. An appearance that would have been less regular if the amputation had been caused by a fall or an animal attack. So many clues not to an accidental amputation, but to an actual medical choice.
An amputation the patient survived
Even more surprising: the patient, who died in his early twenties, appears to have survived six to nine years after surgery, based on microscopic signs of bone repair. It is also unlikely that the amputation was performed as a punishment, as the child (or young adolescent) appears to have received careful treatment after surgery and at burial.
“This presupposes a deep knowledge of human anatomy, of the muscular and vascular system”, analyzes the study. The people who operated on the young teenager had to “regularly clean, disinfect and dress the wound” to avoid any postoperative bleeding or infection that could cause death.
The handicapped and dependent young amputee’s physical condition probably also forced those around him to care for him for six to nine years, demonstrating altruistic behavior among this group of hunter-gatherers.
This work “sheds new light on the care and treatment that was provided in the distant past, and alters our view that these issues were not considered in prehistoric times,” said Charlotte Ann Roberts, an archaeologist at the British University of Durham. , it’s a statement. comment accompanying the study.
As for surgery, there are many prehistoric remains of trepanations or tooth extractions. But limb amputations are extremely rare, as they are difficult to identify in poorly preserved bones.
New excavations planned for next year
After the discovery of Borneo, many unanswered questions remain: how did they proceed? Was the practice common? How did they ease the pain?
In the tropics, the rapidity of infections may have spurred the development of antiseptic products that exploit the medicinal properties of Borneo’s rich vegetation, the authors argue. They also suggest the use of a cut stone blade to operate.
New excavations are scheduled for next year at Liang Tebo cave, in the hope of learning more about the humans who populated it. “Conditions are ripe for surprising new discoveries at this ‘hot spot’ in human evolution,” says Renaud Joannes-Boyau, associate professor at Southern Cross University in Australia, who helped date the skeleton.
Source: BFM TV
