Stone Age surgeon performed ancient amputation
A team of Australian and Indonesian archaeologists have unearthed the skeleton of a young hunter-gatherer whose lower leg was amputated by a skilled surgeon 31,000 years ago
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Archaeologists* have unearthed the skeleton of a young hunter-gatherer* whose lower leg was amputated by a skilled Stone Age surgeon 31,000 years ago.
The discovery in a remote limestone cave in Borneo is thought to be the earliest evidence of a complex medical procedure, predating other examples by tens of thousands of years.
A team of Australian and Indonesian archaeologists found the human skeleton during a dig at the Liang Tebo cave in 2020 and were surprised to find it was missing its left foot and lower leg.
Analysis* by University of Sydney palaeopathologist* Dr Melandri Vlok confirmed telltale* bony growths related to healing, suggesting the limb was surgically amputated several years earlier when the individual was a child.
“In fact, it was a huge surprise that this ancient forager* survived a very serious and life-threatening childhood operation, that the wound healed to form a stump, and that they then lived for years in mountainous terrain with altered mobility* – suggesting a high degree of community care,” Dr Vlok said.
Previous archaeological work across Eurasia* and the Americas had uncovered human bones with signs of prehistoric surgeries, including holes drilled in skulls.
But, up until now, the oldest evidence of amputation surgery was a 7000-year-old skeleton of an elderly male Stone Age farmer from France, whose left forearm had been carefully amputated just above the elbow.
The scientists were able to calculate the age of the Borneo cave skeleton by examining its teeth and the radiocarbon age of the dirt it was buried in.
“In light of the much younger age of these prior findings, the discovery of a 31,000-year-old amputee in Borneo clearly has major implications* for our understanding of the history of medicine,” said Griffith University researcher Dr Tim Maloney.
Researchers had thought that humans did not have the expertise or technology to perform such difficult medical procedures so long ago. They thought these procedures only emerged after humans moved from foraging to farming at the end of the ice age.
“What the new finding in Borneo demonstrates is that humans already had the ability to successfully amputate diseased or damaged limbs long before we began farming and living in permanent settlements,” said Professor Maxime Aubert, from Griffith University’s Centre for Social and Cultural Research.
The team, which also included researchers from Southern Cross University, University of Western Australia and Indonesia’s Centre for Archaeology, Language and History, said the surgeon or surgeons who performed the operation 31,000 years ago must have had detailed knowledge of limb anatomy*.
They also must have understood the body’s muscular and vascular* systems in order to prevent fatal blood loss and infection during and after the amputation.
Intensive care after the surgery would also have been vital, with the wound needing regular cleaning to prevent infection.
The researchers said it was unclear if such complex medical procedures were widespread at the time or if the community this human belonged to was unusually advanced.
“One possibility is that rapid rates of infection in the hot and humid tropics prompted early foragers in this region to tap into the rainforests’ ‘natural pharmacy’ of medicinal* plants, leading to an early flourishing* in the use of botanical resources for anaesthetics*, antiseptics*, and other wound-healing treatments,” said Dr India Ella Dilkes-Hall, from the University of Western Australia.
GLOSSARY
- archaeologists: scientists who studies human history by digging up human remains and artefacts
- hunter-gatherer: a member of a group of people who lived mostly by hunting, fishing and gathering wild food
- analysis: detailed examination of something
- palaeopathologist: scientist who studies ancient diseases and injuries by examining fossil or other remains
- telltale: an indication that something exists
- forager: a person or animal that searches widely for food
- mobility: the ability to move or be moved easily
- Eurasia: Europe and Asia considered together as one continent
- implications: the effects that an action or decision have on something else
- anatomy: the structure or internal workings of something
- vascular: to do with the blood vessels
- medicinal: having healing properties
- flourishing: developing rapidly and successfully, thriving
- botanical: to do with plants
- anaesthetics: substances that makes you unable to feel pain
- antiseptics: substances that prevent infection in an injury
EXTRA READING
Ancient tooth provides clue to extinct humans
Archaeologists find ancient toilet
Potion to live forever found in Chinese tomb
QUICK QUIZ
- Where was the skeleton found?
- How long ago was the amputation thought to have happened?
- How did the scientists calculate the age of the skeleton?
- Up until now, what was the oldest evidence of amputation surgery?
- Why do the researchers believe the amputation was done by a skilled surgeon?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. How do they do it?
How do you think archaeologists go about uncovering finds like the Stone Age skeleton? Remember that they don’t want to destroy anything that could be valuable evidence! Write a step by step instruction guide for a new archaeologist on the dig in Borneo.
Use your research skills to find out more about the tools and technology that archaeologists use, if you would like to know more.
Time: allow 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, History
2. Extension
What evidence would archaeologists need to find to help them decide that people living so long ago had more advanced medical knowledge? List as many things as you can think of.
Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, History
VCOP ACTIVITY
Diary of a hunter-gatherer
Write a diary entry for this young hunter-gatherer about how they lost their leg when they were a child. What event might have occurred for the leg to have to be removed? How did the community support them and their altered mobility? And what obstacles might they have encountered due to the mountainous terrain of the area?
Remember this was over 30,000 years ago, so they would not have access to the same support as today.