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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.
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.
equipsblog said:
Fascinating. I first became aware of brain surgery when watching the first season of Rome, when the surgery was successfully performed on the character, Titus Pullo played by Ray Stevenson.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
That was a great series! It’s a shame it ended so soon.
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equipsblog said:
I totally agree. From what I read, it was too expensive to continue, originally planned for 5 seasons and lasted 2.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Darn those bean counters! Sigh…
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Annette Rochelle Aben said:
Food for thought here
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Indeed 🙂
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rosihollinbeck said:
Another fascinating post. Thanks. That photo is stunning.
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Andrew Joyce said:
Please keep the history coming.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you so much, Andrew! I always wonder if people are as interested in this stuff as I am 🙂
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wilfredbooks said:
We’re still disc overing how ancient medicine isn’t always as ‘primitive’ as we disdainfully like to believe it is, aren’t we? Interesting about the derivation of the Chinese term for anaesthesia, too: perfectly logical, of course! Cheers, Jon.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Indeed. It’s amazing how much stuff we knew, then forgot and rediscovered!
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Chris The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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michaeljmcfadden said:
Elongated skulls! Fascinating. Any guesses at all as to how such a practice could have come about and died out?
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I’ll have to dig up some more info on the subject. I’m fascinated by how skull elongation was practiced from Africa to Peru!
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beetleypete said:
Goes to show we could have learned something from those so-called ‘savages’ in South America..
Best wishes, Pete.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Oh, absolutely. South America, Asia, Africa… you name it!
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Endless Weekend said:
I once read a sweet story where someone was asked what’s the first sign of civilization, expecting to hear of stone tools or the use of fire. Instead, the responder said that it was a healed femur, because that was a significant injury that you could not survive unless someone was caring for you: civilization!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I love that story!
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Seeker of Information said:
Thank you for sharing.
I share a lot of ancient knowledge on my website.
http://www.rebirthoftheword.com
Once again nice article.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Many thanks for the great link!
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