It turns out that already in the Stone Age, primitive people performed rather complex surgical operations. Unique finds made in the 20th century proved that Neanderthals were well versed in medicine. For a long time primitive people were considered primitive and cruel. The constant struggle for survival, deprivation and hunger did not dispose to sentimentality. Only the strongest survived
Therefore, it is even difficult to imagine that in the Stone Age people knew how to provide each other with medical assistance. And, what is most surprising, they did surgical operations. The average life expectancy in a primitive society did not exceed 25 years, so that at the dawn of mankind there was hardly a golden age with the absence of diseases. As soon as a science was born that studies changes in the bone remains of primitive people as a result of diseases, it immediately became clear that our distant ancestors were by no means healthy, not yet spoiled by civilization, as we thought earlier.
The discoveries made in Shanidar Cave (Northern Iraq) in 1953-1960 became a real sensation. An archaeological expedition led by R. Solecki discovered 9 male skeletons of Neanderthals who lived 60-30 thousand years BC. The skeleton of one 40-year-old man especially struck scientists. He had a damaged left eye socket (most likely, he did not see with his left eye), plus a healed fracture of his left foot, a leg disfigured by the worst arthritis and badly worn teeth. Amazingly, he also had virtually no right arm!
But this cripple lost his arm long before he died. It turns out that the primitive invalid, doomed to death, managed, proceeding from the average life expectancy of that harsh time, to live to a ripe old age. So, his fellow tribesmen took care of him!
After examining the skeleton, scientists came to the conclusion that the poor man's right arm, apparently shattered in an accident or in a duel with an animal, was amputated above the elbow by some primitive surgeon. The surface of the bone stump has a characteristic rounded shape, which usually happens after an operation.
After examining the burials, scientists found that the Neanderthals not only knew how to do surgical operations, but also used medicinal plants. Analysis of the soil from the burials made it possible to reveal pollen of yarrow, ephedra, marshmallow, and wild rose - a total of 8 types of medicinal herbs. The pollen not only made it possible to determine which plants the Neanderthals used, but also showed that the ancient people already had some idea of the afterlife, because they buried the dead, decorating the burial bed with flowers, and also left useful medicinal plants in the burials.
The fact that the most real surgical operations were carried out in the Stone Age is also evidenced by another unique find made at the end of the 20th century. Near the French village of Ensisheim, archaeologists have unearthed 45 ancient burials with the remains of 47 people from the Stone Age. The skeleton of a 50-year-old man was discovered there, whose skull with traces of two neat holes immediately attracted the attention of researchers.
Both holes did not have any cracks at the edges and were clearly the result of surgery, not murder or accident. One hole in the front of the forehead was about 6 cm in diameter, the other, in the top of the skull, a couple of centimeters wider.
“Most of the holes in skulls are usually insignificant,” says archaeologist Sandra Pikhler from the University of Freiburg in Germany, a participant in the excavation. “It's hard to tell from them whether they are the result of surgery or just a fractured skull. But in our case, you can see the smooth, rounded edges of fairly large trepanations, that is, these holes are clearly artificial."
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Curiously, both bone regeneration took place: the smaller hole on the forehead was completely covered with a thin layer of bone, and the larger one was overgrown by about two-thirds, that is, nothing indicates signs of postoperative infection. So, the man has safely undergone trepanation!
“So these ancient people had a very good surgeon and some way to suppress the infection,” says Pikhler. She and her colleagues believe that it took at least six months, and maybe about 2 years, for such large wounds to heal. Moreover, both trepanations were performed at different times, then the man was successfully operated on twice.
Archaeologists do not know why such operations were needed and how they were carried out, although at the edges of the holes in the skull it can be assumed that the bone was cut and scraped. The tools of the Stone Age were quite suitable for this operation: flint knives were no less sharp than modern scalpels.
“Trepanations are so masterful that they cannot be called the most ancient,” says Pikhler. - The surgeon had to have a long-term practice. The fact of finding traces of two trepanations on one skull at once indirectly confirms this: if only one operation took place, one could say that the ancient surgeon was just lucky. But since the patient survived after the second operation, it means that the doctor had certain skills and knew what to do."
<According to the famous Czech researcher Miloslav Stingl, among the surgical instruments of the ancient Incas "were bronze scalpels of various sizes, tweezers, needles, brackets, bronze knives" tumi ", resembling in their shape a kitchen knife-cut, as well as clamps, by means of which local Inca doctors tugged their veins to stop the bleeding."
In 2006, the Tehran times newspaper reported that Iranian archaeologists had discovered an artificial eye in the Burnt City (Iranian archaeological site), which was probably created 4,800 years ago.
Burnt City archaeological site is located 57 kilometers from the city of Zabol in the southeastern province of Iran, Sistan va Baluchistan. The excavation area is more than 300 thousand hectares and represents the largest excavations carried out in Iran. The city went through 4 stages of civilization development and survived 3 fires, therefore it was named "The Burnt City". In terms of the number of finds discovered, Birnt City surpasses all other excavations previously conducted in this country.
Mansour Sajadi, head of the Burnt City excavation, said the artificial eye belonged to a 25-30-year-old woman whose skeleton was also found during the excavation. He said that it is not yet clear what this artificial eye is made of, but at first glance - from a mixture of resin mixed with animal fat. Traces of an abscess were found in the eye socket as a result of prolonged wearing of the eye process.
Mr. Sajjadi believes that the capillaries on the prosthesis were drawn using the finest gold wire, no more than half a millimeter wide. Parallel lines are also visible around the pupil, forming a diamond. On the sides there were two holes to keep the eye in the socket. From the things found in the tomb, it is obvious that the woman belonged to the elite. Michael Harris, a specialist at the University of California (University of California), is convinced that a woman could be a member of the ruling family at the time, or just be from a wealthy class.
It appears to be the oldest prosthetic eye ever found. According to earlier evidence, it was believed that such prostheses began to be created only from the 5th century BC. Most of the data on ancient ophthalmology was kept in the Library of Alexandria and, unfortunately, was lost.
When doctors got the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the so-called Smith papyrus, written in ancient Egypt in 1700 BC, they were amazed. It turned out that already at that distant time there were surgical instruments, in particular, special copper needles for stitching wounds.
It is curious that in terms of the style of presentation, this ancient medical reference was a copy of an earlier one, possibly dating back to 2700 BC. It is possible that the invaluable document kept bits of medical knowledge of the antediluvian civilization that perished during a global cataclysm.
“True, the ancient Egyptians themselves actively studied the structure of the human body. Everyone has long known the famous Egyptian mummies, but in order to successfully carry out the mummification of deceased pharaohs and other important persons, it was required to know the anatomy and carry out the most real surgical operations.
Recently, a new page has been opened in the history of mummification. It turns out that before moving on to the mummification of the bodies of the dead, the ancient Egyptians trained on skeletons. Chemical analysis of the skeleton of the Old Kingdom period, which is about 4150 years old, provided a clue to the origin of the Egyptian technique of embalming corpses.
The skeleton of Idu II, who, judging by the inscription on the coffin, was engaged in trade and supplied the Egyptians with valuable species of wood, was found in 1iz in 1914. Almost immediately it was acquired by one of the museums in Germany. Until the end of the XX century. no one knew if Idu's remains were embalmed or preserved in such good condition only because of the dry climate of Egypt.
Research by the biochemist Ulrich Weser from the University of Tübingen has clearly shown that the skeleton had undergone special treatment before burial. Thus, the content of sodium in the bones was 12 times higher than normal. Apparently, the ancient embalmers first separated the flesh from the skeleton, and then covered the bones with sodium salts to dry them.
"They probably already knew that flesh decays," Weser says, "and therefore they thought it better to embalm the bones." When analyzing the bones, Weser was able to find in them quite a lot of antiseptic (anti-putrefactive) components, typical of tree resins.
The highest concentration was found for substances that are formed when wood smoldering in the air from resin-rich tree species. This means that the preparation for the burial of the Idu II skeleton could somewhat resemble the process of smoking hams. The skeleton, of course, was unlikely to be suspended and fumigated with smoke; most likely, the necessary components were simply applied to the bones.
The embalming of the Idu II skeleton was so perfect that it even remained intact and active enzyme (enzyme) - alkaline phosphatase, which was isolated from pieces of the clavicle.
The studies carried out by the German biochemist made it possible to find out a lot of new things about the emergence of mummification in Ancient Egypt. Already in the days of the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians were well aware of the individual stages of the process, which Herodotus described in detail.