About 31,000 years ago, an experienced prehistoric surgeon cut off the lower leg of a child who was "working"
The skill of the Stone Age surgeon causedadmiration from the experts. Radiocarbon dating of the human tooth enamel showed that the patient lived for another six to nine years after the operation. This is stated in an article for a new study published in the journal Nature.
“The ancient collector experienced a very serious andlife-threatening pediatric surgery. His wound healed, and then, for years he lived in a mountainous area where he had to move a lot. This is amazing,” Melandri Vlok, co-author of the study and research fellow at the University of Sydney, said in a statement.
An international team of archaeologists has discoveredthe skeletal remains of a young man in Liang Tebo Limestone Cave during an archaeological excavation in 2020. The cave is in a remote location and can only be reached by boat at certain times each year, the researchers write.
The lower leg of the skeleton, including the foot,"removed by deliberate surgical amputation" and "obvious bony growths associated with healing" suggest that the limb was amputated surgically and not as a result of an animal attack or some other tragic event, archaeologists write. However, scientists did not understand why the child had to cut off his leg.
Experts did not think that 30,000 years ago, ancient people could perform such complex operations.
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