via Nature, 07 Sep 2022: One of the biggest science stories from yesterday was a new paper in Nature describing evidence for amputation in East Kalimantan, suggesting that medical knowledge was more sophisticated in prehistory than previously expected. The paper is written by a number of colleagues – congrats to all!
The prevailing view regarding the evolution of medicine is that the emergence of settled agricultural societies around 10,000 years ago (the Neolithic Revolution) gave rise to a host of health problems that had previously been unknown among non-sedentary foraging populations, stimulating the first major innovations in prehistoric medical practices1,2. Such changes included the development of more advanced surgical procedures, with the oldest known indication of an ‘operation’ formerly thought to have consisted of the skeletal remains of a European Neolithic farmer (found in Buthiers-Boulancourt, France) whose left forearm had been surgically removed and then partially healed3. Dating to around 7,000 years ago, this accepted case of amputation would have required comprehensive knowledge of human anatomy and considerable technical skill, and has thus been viewed as the earliest evidence of a complex medical act3. Here, however, we report the discovery of skeletal remains of a young individual from Borneo who had the distal third of their left lower leg surgically amputated, probably as a child, at least 31,000 years ago. The individual survived the procedure and lived for another 6–9 years, before their remains were intentionally buried in Liang Tebo cave, which is located in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, in a limestone karst area that contains some of the world’s earliest dated rock art4. This unexpectedly early evidence of a successful limb amputation suggests that at least some modern human foraging groups in tropical Asia had developed sophisticated medical knowledge and skills long before the Neolithic farming transition.
Source: Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo | Nature
See also:
- Earliest known surgery was of a child in Borneo 31,000 years ago | Nature News, 07 Sep 2022
- Earliest Known Amputation Was Performed in Borneo 31,000 Years Ago | the Smithsonian, 07 Sep 2022
- Stone Age humans had unexpectedly advanced medical knowledge, new discovery suggests | CNN/KAKE, 07 Sep 2022
- Earliest evidence of amputation found in Indonesia cave | BBC News, 07 Sep 2022
- 31,000-year-old skeleton missing lower left leg is earliest known evidence of surgery, experts say | The Guardian, 07 Sep 2022
- How a missing foot in Borneo is upending what we’ve known about human history | USA Today/Yahoo, 07 Sep 2022
- Oldest medical amputation on record was performed on a Stone Age child in Borneo 31,000 years ago | LiveScience, 07 Sep 2022
- 31,000-year-old amputation shines new light on history of ancient medicine | TRT World, 07 Sep 2022
- Amputation in a 31,000-year-old skeleton may be a sign of prehistoric medical advances | NPR, 07 Sep 2022
- Earliest-known surgical limb amputation found in stone-age skeleton | ABC News, 08 Sep 2022
- Borneo skeleton may show 31,000 year old amputation | Al Jazeera, 08 Sep 2022
- Ancient skeleton reveals amputation surgery 31,000 years ago | AFP/Bangkok Post, 08 Sep 2022
- World’s earliest evidence of a successful surgical amputation found in 31,000-year-old grave in Borneo | The Conversation, 08 Sep 2022
- Scientists find evidence of oldest known surgical limb amputation that occurred 31,000 years ago | ABC News, 08 Sep 2022
- Ancient skeleton reveals amputation surgery 31,000 years ago | Japan Today, 08 Sep 2022
- Researchers discover earliest known stone-age surgery | Griffith University, 08 Sep 2022
- 31,000-year-old skeleton found in famous Borneo rock art caves shows earliest evidence of amputation surgery | Cosmos, 09 Sep 2022
- Stone age surgery: Earliest evidence of amputation found | Science Daily, 09 Sep 2022
- Prehistoric Child’s Amputation Is Oldest Surgery of Its Kind | Scientific America, 13 Sep 2022
- THE OLDEST SUCCESSFUL LIMB AMPUTATION OCCURRED 31,000 YEARS AGO | Syfy, 15 Sep 2022
- PHOTOS: ARCHEOLOGISTS DISCOVER 31,000-YEAR-OLD AMPUTEE | The Meateater, 16 Sep 2022
