Borneo: 31,000 years ago the first leg amputation

In the cave Liang Tebo in the Borneo The remains of a young adult were found in a 31,000-year-old burial. The curious thing is that the boy… lower left leg, but it did not appear to have been chewed by animals or related to wounds incurred during conflict. The signs present refer to a true intentional amputation of the limb. The first surgery of which there is a trace.

Of the documentation discovered that the people living in those regions at the time not only had expertise in rock art, but were also able to amputate a leg to a child by managing to survive into adulthood.

Over there first amputation which has been traced so far dates back to 7,000 years ago in France, where a farmer lost his left arm and is completely cured. But until now there was no trace of an operation of this magnitude. At least until the discovery in Borneo.

According to studies, those who amputated the child’s leg must have had a good understanding of the anatomical aspects of the leg and have been able to avoid infections And blood loss fatal since the child grew up.

Medicine has made great progress in the past century, before that people died easily from infections that can be treated today antibiotics. But it took many years for complex surgical practices to be introduced, and amputations are even more risky. In the 1870s, the death rate from an amputation procedure was very high, despite the use of substances with anesthetic and antiseptic properties such as chloroform.