People performed craniotomy of cows 5.4 thousand years ago. This conclusion was made by scientists from the French institute CNRS.
The researchers were interested in a hole in the skull of one of the cows that lived more than 5 thousand years ago. At first, experts decided that the hole was pierced by the horn of another cow or bull, however, after examining the damage in more detail, scientists concluded that the hole was made by a person using a tool.
Perhaps in this way the ancient surgeons honed their skills. It is possible that such an operation was carried out in order to save the animal, although this hypothesis is unlikely. The skull of a cow was found among hundreds of other skeletons of cows, so the assumption that people wanted to save one, with hundreds, seems unlikely.
The hole resembled trepanation marks on human skulls found earlier in the region. In ancient times, it was believed that trepanation would help expel evil spirits from a person.
The skull of a cow was discovered in the area of a Neolithic archaeological site in northwestern France.
The hole in the cow's skull was about 6 cm long and 5 cm wide. The hole was located on the right side of the front of the skull. Scientists are confident that in the event of injury, cracks would be visible on the skull. In addition, when examining the hole with a microscope, scratches from the instrument were found. No traces of any attempt to cure the animal were found. Most likely, the cow was either already dead or did not survive the surgery.
Previously, scientists were aware of cases of craniotomy in cows, but the age of such remains did not exceed 3 thousand years.
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