Plenty of ancient resources mention medical procedures such as surgery. The early Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo (c. 140-208) is credited with being the first recorded person to use cannabis as an anesthetic. He reduced the plant to powder and mixed it with wine for administration prior to conducting surgery. Indeed, the Chinese term for “anesthesia” literally means “cannabis intoxication.”
In Ancient Greece, the oldest sources of information about Hellenic medicine are the two Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey (7th–8th century BC). Iliad provides an unforgettable picture of army surgery and anatomy at the time of the Trojan War in Asia Minor. It contains realistic descriptions of wounds and injuries of widely differing types. The most dangerous wounds were sword and spear thrusts, while less-dangerous were those inflicted by arrows. It is obvious that in Greek expeditionary force included professional healers, skilled in the extraction of embedded weapons, the arrest of hemorrhage, and the relief of suffering.
Halfway across the world, a Peruvian elongated skull displays metal surgically implanted after returning from battle, estimated to be from about 2,000 years ago. Not much information on the skull is available, other than the fact that the warrior had survived the surgical procedure because the broken bones around the implant were tightly fused.
2000-year-old Peruvian skull with signs of surgery. Image: Quora
According to Anderson Dourado on Quora, trepanation (the ancient surgical procedure in which a hole is drilled into the skull) was a common procedure in ancient Peru. In fact, there are more skulls with trepanations in ancient Peru than anywhere else in the world. The reason why trepanation was so common was that the ancient Peruvians mostly used clubs and sling stones as their weapons of choice in war. These weapons are more likely to cause head fractures compared to other types of weapons such as arrows, spears, and swords.
Survival rates of these surgical procedures were estimated to be as high as 70%. These surgeries were much more successful than the ones performed early on in the West because they were most likely performed in open-air environments with tools that were not used over and over again. Conversely, most of the early surgeries in the West occurred in crowded hospitals with surgical tools that were not properly disinfected and used on several different patients in a short period of time.
As for the elongated skull, no one knows for sure the exact purpose, however, some researchers theorize that it was the mark of elite status. They came to this conclusion because the remains of those with elongated skulls had a more diverse diet than those with normal skulls. The skulls were modified using pieces of wood that were tightly wrapped around the heads of infants. Interestingly enough, elongated skulls have been discovered all over the world—in Africa, Asia, North America, Europe, and Polynesia.
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Fascinating, Nicholas. I had to do some research on Roman and Celtic medical practices for one of my books. That was interesting, too. These ancient people knew much more than many people think.
That is so true! Mind you, I disagree with the “everything was better before” line of thought. Instead, I believe we’ve built our medical advances on the shoulders of giants of medical history such as Asclepius.
Yes, China had medical knowledge far ahead of the West. Like other historical information, much was lost due to wars, fires, floods, etc. I’m sure you know all about the library of Alexandria.
Indeed, even though the ral impact of the fire was probably negligible: https://nicholasrossis.me/2018/06/05/history-of-the-great-library-of-alexandria/
“elongating skulls. I wonder if it affected the infant” IMO excellent question! All sorts of ethnicities do all sorts of harm to children. Especally if you are a woman, read Hanny lightfoot-Klein’s fine book “Prisoners of ritual” about FGM. Ritual male circumcison is harmful too, and subincision among the Australian Aborigines. There’s no end to society doing things to people not for them. Recently high in the Andes an aristocratic young lady from pre-Columbian times was found curled up in a hole in remarkably good condition; she had walked hundreds of miles to be sacrificed for her tribe. They did give her some kind of intoxicant before she did her good deed for her people but maybe she was already intoxicated on patriotism and didn’t need it?
Ceremonial sacrifices are the topic of an upcoming post. Stop reading my mind, will you? 😀
This is fascinating reading! Eastern and Middle Eastern medicine was far advanced from the clumsy attempts of the butchers in Europe. How much medical knowledge was lost in the burning of the Alexandrian Library! Thanks for this informative piece, Nicholas.
So glad you enjoyed it, Noelle! Maybe not so much info was lost in Alexandria: the library is now believed to have contained mostly copies, and many ancient works survived – mostly thanks to Medieval monks. Even so, you’re right that there’s a treasure trove of writing that was lost!
I’d never even heard of the practice of elongating skulls. I wonder if it affected the infant (in the way that a skull deformed before or during birth – such as good-sized twin might suffer – is a marker for autism tests in toddlers).
You are a mine of informtion, Nicholas.
Thank you so much, Cathy! ‘ll have to dig up some more info on the subject. It’s pretty fascinating, mostly because skull elongation was practiced by civilizations so far apart from each other.
In other words a lot of ancient surgery was occasioned by people being stupid and fighting with each other to injure themselves unnecessarily. Digging a hole to fill it back up again (literally true for trephanation, yes?). Is little Boo well protected from unecessary “cat fight” injury? Meow!
(The Iliad, for example. What woman who is so narcissistic that she would let men injure themselves to get their oafish mitts on her body her is worth having? All the guys from both sides of the Aegean should have got together with some good wine and listened to Homer sing them a tale, and have let Miss Helen sit and swivel.)
Sigh… Boo passed suddenly a about a week ago. I’ve been wanting to post about it but haven’t had the strength to do so.
Funny you should mention Helen of Troy. I was just reading about her and your comment has prompted me to make that my next post. Stay tuned, you’ll love this one!
Meow! Alas all cats are mortal! Boo looked like such a sweet little kitty. I just now appreciated my little Nibblet (That’s the name my daughter gave her; she’s not even a full Nibble…) in appreciation that she has not yet gone to kitty heaven. And (she’s a Maine Coon), she replied with a little trill.
Aw, that’s sweet – and a great name. Give her a treat from me, will you? 🙂
I forgot to add: Boo almost looked like a kitten. the picture was so adorable. Gimme one!
He really was! Sigh…