Stone Age Amputation Steals Record from French Farmer

New information has surfaced, undermining our previous knowledge on the history of amputations. Until recently, the first known amputation was a French farmer who had his left forearm medically amputated around 7,000 years ago. It’s possible that operations to make skull openings started 6,000 years before that in North Africa.

Now researchers have discovered that an amputation of the lower left leg was performed on a child in Borneo about 31,000 years ago.

According to archaeologist Tim Maloney of Griffith University, the hunter-gatherers who carried out the procedure had in-depth understanding of human anatomy and excellent technical expertise, this avoided deadly volumes of blood loss and infection taking place.

The patient lived for a minimum of six to nine years following the operation until passing away approximately aged 19, we know this because there was evidence of healed bone at the amputation site. Scientists best guess is that an unknown medical issue was the reason for the procedure because there is no sign of the bone being crushed or bitten.

In 2020, Maloney’s crew discovered the bones in a burial cave. The researchers were able to determine when the operation was performed using radiocarbon dating of burnt wood found close to the burial and a different dating method on a tooth from the subjects’ bottom set of teeth.

Ancient inhabitants of Borneo created antiseptic remedies from indigenous plants in response to fast wound infections they faced being in a tropical environment. It’s unclear if the child would have been put to sleep using a plant-based remedy or what kind of equipment’s were employed during the surgery.

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