Siberian surgeons in the IV-III centuries BC used saws during operations, which were not found at that time either among the Greeks or among the Romans, El Mundo reports. This became clear after recently found medical instruments in Siberia, created 2,500 years ago, the article says.
According to El Mundo, medical instruments were discovered in Siberia, which are already about 2,500 years old. At the same time, as noted in the article, the experts drew attention to the fact that the objects found are very similar to the tools that were used at the same time in Europe.
In particular, a saw, a knife for cutting a bone, tweezers, medical probes and a lancet, instead of which a scalpel is now used, were typical instruments of a Siberian surgeon in the 4th – 3rd centuries BC.
“Most of these instruments are similar in form and function to those of European surgeons of the same time. The only exception is saws, which are not found during this period in Europe,”the publication quotes the words of the Russian scientist Pavel Volkov, who was involved in this study.
With the help of these tools, the article emphasizes, doctors could successfully perform complex operations, including craniotomy.
“It is obvious that the inhabitants of southern Siberia during this period possessed complex knowledge in the field of surgery, not inferior to the knowledge of ancient Roman and ancient Greek surgeons,” Volkov quotes at the end of El Mundo.