Researchers have found evidence for the earliest known surgical amputation, tens of thousands of years before the advent of modern surgical tools, antibiotics, or painkillers.
Some 31,000 years ago in the misty rainforests of the island of Borneo, stone tool met bone and a limb was severed—but a young life was saved.
The find traces to early 2020, when a team of Australian and Indonesian scientists excavated the floor of a cave called Liang Tebo in a remote, densely forested region of eastern Borneo. “There are absolutely no settlements, no telephone signal, no electricity,” says team member Andika Arief Drajat Priyatno, an archaeologist at the East Kalimantan Cultural Heritage Preservation Center.
As workers, including Andika and others, scraped away a section of cave floor inch by inch, they discovered a remarkably intact human skeleton reclined in a kneeling position, with stones positioned above its head and hands, as if they were grave markers. The individual, whose sex could not be determined from their bones, was in their early 20s when they died. A small chunk of ochre, a natural pigment, was buried near the person’s face.
When the scientists returned the following year, Vlok noticed the end of the leg was cut cleanly in a straight line, with no sign of crushing or shattering, as expected if a rock had fallen on it or an animal had bitten it off. “It looks exactly like what you would expect if a sharp blade cut completely perpendicular to the bone,” she says. “It made us confident this was surgery.”Tim Maloney
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
The history of book bans—and their changing targets—in the U.S.Censorship is as old as writing, but its targets have shifted over the centuries. Here’s how book banning emerged in the U.S. and how it affects modern readers today
Consulte Mais informação »
Ancient Viking poop helped scientists map the genetics of a 5000-year-old parasiteResearchers used fossilized eggs in up to 2500-year-old stool samples to genetically analyze one of the oldest human parasites named whipworm
Consulte Mais informação »
Reaching Md. was an odyssey. Now, an Afghan family marks a quiet milestone.Afghan families evacuated from Kabul a year ago are celebrating a quiet milestone in Maryland and Virginia as their children start the new school year.
Consulte Mais informação »