Medicine is a professional field that has been in existence for many millennia. It is one of the oldest professions in the world; however, there has been very little evidence to prove the availability of medicine in ancient times. Luckily, there is a discovery that leads scientists to conclude that ancient Greeks tried brain surgery on a certain woman, although it is not clear if the surgery was successful or not. The discovery is a major step towards understanding ancient medicinal practices, and it leads to great insight into our current medical practices. This information explains how the ancient Greeks performed brain surgery.
The discovery:
The discovery appears after more than 900 graves were dug up to try to understand any differences between the current world and the ancient one. While digging up these graves, they discovered a skeleton, which was of a woman’s body. On the skeleton, there was a hole in the skull, which led the archaeologists to believe that the hole was a result of trials of brain surgery by the Greek medicine men. The bones were from a date that is more than 1500 years ago. The graves were in a location near Veria, which is a city in Greece.
From the hole found on the skull, the archaeologists state that it could only have been a procedure performed by a skilled doctor of that ancient time. However, after interpreting the appearance of the hole, they depicted that the woman could not have survived. If she did, there would have been signs of some healing near the hole but this is not evident.
The surgery:
Only a skilled, specialist would have attempted that type of surgery, according to the archaeologists who found this skeleton. After studying the skull closely, the doctors discovered that the surgery would have been an attempt to deal with a condition caused by a blow to the head. Since there was no way to make the patient unconscious, the patient would have been aware of the procedure as it went on. Therefore, the patient would have been conscious and would have experienced tremendous pain, as a result of the procedure. Also, the doctors suggest that the patient would have had several people to hold her down to reduce her movement during the surgery.
Other procedures at the time would have involved drilling a tiny hole in the skull. This hole would have been an effort to cure headaches by reducing pressure in the brain. However, as evident from the large hole on the patient’s skull, the archaeologists prove that the surgeon who performed the procedure must have used a technique that is different from the standard procedure used today. This discovery leads them to believe that the doctor faced a different challenge other than the pressure or a headache.
Conclusion:
This is one of the significant discoveries of ancient medicine. Doctors prove that the woman was in a different type of grave that was empty, even though the surrounding graves had skeletons with jewellery around them.
