A man who lived in what is now China nearly 3000 years ago had surgery on his skull to treat a head injury. And survived. It suggests that shamanic doctors in that era were capable of carrying out basic neurosurgery.
Qian Wang at Texas A&M University and his colleagues used CT scans to analyse a skull found in The Yanghai cemetery in Xinjiang, China of a man aged between 30 and 35 years who lived sometime around 750 to 800 BC. The Yanghai cemetery in Xinjiang, China, is a large, ancient burial ground containing the graves of a clan that practised shamanism (generally defined as a belief system using trance to communicate with the supernatural)
The man had experienced a blunt force injury, causing an epidural haematoma.
To repair the injury and relieve the haematoma, part of the skull was removed.
The individual survived the treatment and continued to live for at least eight weeks, according to signs of healing found within the walls of the fracture lines.
According to New Scientist, the researcher said: ‘To successfully remove the haematoma, the doctor was able to design a bone flap according to the injury by using the fracture lines.’
According to Mr Wang, this is the most ‘advanced and skilled craniotomy ever found’ in the wider Eurasian region.
Mr Wang stated that while there isn’t concrete proof that a shaman doctor performed the surgery, there are other discoveries in the area that support the theory.
One person at the Yanghai cemetery was recognised as a shaman based on a bronze knife and pointed instrument, known as an awl, that were likely surgical instruments and were hanging from his waist. There has also been evidence of cannabis use as an anaesthetic at the cemetery.
Photo Credit: Dr Qian Wang, Texas A&M University School of Dentistry
