An early example of a successful cranioplasty (Peru, ca. 400 CE). The patient survived, as evidenced by the well-healed in situ cranioplasty made from a gold inlay.
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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wow it’s insane to imagine that humanity have been doing surgeries for so long, actually impressive!
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Imagine the pain this guy has gone through… No anesthetics…no pain killer afterwards…
(free, email sign up wall) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/news-trepanation-inca-medicine-archaeology
” Inca Skull Surgeons Were ‘Highly Skilled,’ Study Finds Ancient Inca doctors treated head injuries with precision—even removing portions of patients’ skulls. ByScott Norris May 12, 2008 • 4 min read Inca surgeons in ancient Peru commonly and successfully removed small portions of patients’ skulls to treat head injuries, according to a new study. The surgical procedure—known as trepanation—was most often performed on adult men, likely to treat injuries suffered during combat, researchers say. A similar procedure is performed today to relieve pressure caused by fluid buildup following severe head trauma. Around the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, remains dating back to A.D. 1000 show that surgical techniques were standardized and perfected over time, according to the report. Many of the oldest skulls showed no evidence of bone healing following the operation, suggesting that the procedure was probably fatal. But by the 1400s, survival rates approached 90 percent, and infection levels were very low, researchers say. The new findings show that Inca surgeons had developed a detailed knowledge of cranial anatomy, said lead author Valerie Andrushko, of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. “These people were skilled surgeons,” she said. Beer, Plants Aided Patients Inca healers carefully avoided areas of the skull where cutting would be more likely to cause brain injury, bleeding, or infection, Andrushko noted. The operations were conducted without the modern benefits of anesthesia and antibiotics, but medicinal plants were probably used, she said. “They were aware of the medicinal properties of many wild plants, including coca and wild tobacco,” Andrushko said. “These, along with maize beer, may have been used to alleviate some of the pain. “Natural antiseptics such as balsam and saponins [plants with soaplike properties] may have reduced the likelihood of infection following trepanation,” she added. The new study was recently published online in The American Journal of Physical Anthropology.” ——– “Trephination is the oldest known surgical technique. Peru has been recognized as a major source of ancient trephined skulls, many of which date back 2300 years. This presentation reviews from a neurosurgical perspective many of the archaeological studies performed on these skulls. Comparative osteology has shown that almost 70% of patients survived the procedure. The various instruments, hemostatic agents, anesthetics, surgical techniques, and cranioplasties used are reconstructed from the anthropological literature. The possible reasons for the use of trephination are discussed. Analysis of the data leads to the conclusion that, despite their rudimentary knowledge of disease, the ancient Incas must have had some knowledge of anatomy and proper surgical procedure.” (Neurosurgery (23:411-416, 1988)/ Abstract from https://journals.lww.com/neurosurgery/abstract/1988/10000/cranial_surgery_in_ancient_peru.1.aspx Edited to add a clearer link to the journal link.Â
It baffles me that people could survive this!
They didn’t have metal tools. These surgeries were done with flint and/or obsidian. That makes this even more impressive.
successful ? the guy is deadÂ
That’s cool and all, but what is going on with their teeth?
Looks like they were carved straight out of the jawbone.
Looks like a Sea of Thieves skull
The agony this guy must have felt… no numbing, just raw pain.
Is CE like a different dimension? I’ve heard of AD and BC.
Must be KSIs grandfather.
They probably had some form of pain killers. The real scary part would be the reason they did this in the first place (let out the bad demons maybe?), and if this procedure resolved the issue. If the issue was any sort of legitimate disease or mental illness, then probably not.
Damn, homie was so into the octothorp he got it tatted on his skull
I beg to differ. This person is clearly dead.
And here I am struggling to get a gold tooth while this guy had a gold patch to his skull. Sometimes it feels like we are currently failing as a society.
This is WILD.
Is gold bacteriostatic like brass?
Reminds me of that scene in Master and Commander where the doctor played by Paul Bettany is patching up a guy’s head and the sailors watching are like “is that his brain? “ and Paul Bettany laughs.
And as an audience member you laugh too because no way are they doing brain surgery on an old timey wooden ship. Then Paul Bettany goes “Now *that’s* his brain.”
And you’re like “Oh shit Paul Bettany is doing brain surgery on an old timey wooden ship!”
Anyone else think of the scene from HBO’s Rome with Titus Pullo?
Ancient. Aliens.
The skull looks badass
Insane if true, the teeth are telling me this is fake tho no ?
Those teeth though
A crazy detail that I didnt realize about the Incas is they had no written language, as in no alphabet. There is something called Quipu that exists, which are just little strings with knots on them in sequences, jsut for keeping records but seem to be mostly of numerical values. but theyre still not exactly sure how they were used, so theyre still trying to decipher them.
Just goes to show that while the early colonists labeled these cultures as barbaric, and often pointed to stuff like the lack of written language as proof, they can have complex civilized culture and be capable of great things like this all the while being different and not needing written language.
People in the past might not have access to the knowlege and technology they do, but they werent stupid. They know what worked and what didnt:
Gold has antimicrobial properties. So using it would make infection less likely. (brass and bronze would work too)
What is CE. I know I can just google it and been out of school for a while but I just gotta say it cause it’s making me feel real dumb.
Now imagine no general or local anesthetics!
That must have felt spectacular. With no anesthesia
“And now we are finished grinding down any excess skull….go ahead and swab on some honey and seal it all up with papaya leaves….this should last around 2500 years…”
Kano-Upgrade
Hashtag #coolscar
Peruvian pain relief: more like ancient gold standard!
Cursed sourdough
Curiously the Incas who lived in Peru by that time used clubs as their most common weapon, if someone gets badly hit in the head the only way to save their life would be performing a craniotomy to prevent pressure building from the internal hemorrhage in the brain.
Just like the greeck and the romans in classical age
Okay but what the fuck is up with his jaw
Come on where is the halo reference
Did they use the gold inlay so they could up charge on the insurance?
Sometimes I don’t believe we’re the same species as ancient peoples. How could anyone endure such pain?
This guy must have looked gnarly as hell!
This reminds me of a Neanderthal named Shanidar 1. He had an amputated arm, yet lived until his late 40’s.
Sure the patient survived… Gold is holy!💰🙏🏻 Still nowadays
Bro had an anime scar.
“Them his brains, Doctor?”
“No, that’s dried blood. *Those* are his brains.”
*leans in attentively* “Ohhhhh.”
thats an oddball
You would never be able to say if they survived longer term as the bone would unite but infection is the killer here