Scientists monitor the first surgical amputations 31,000 years ago

Techniques confirmed that the tomb is the oldest in Southeast Asia.

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Archaeologists have found the world's oldest evidence of a successful surgical amputation in a tomb in Borneo, which predates the oldest previously known example of a similar procedure by some 24,000 years.

Archaeologists from Australian universities and Indonesian institutions have unearthed the skeleton of a Borneo youth whose lower left leg was amputated as a child, 31,000 years ago.

The scientists said in a statement yesterday that "multiple dating techniques confirmed that the burial took place 31,000 years ago, making it the oldest known tomb in Southeast Asia."

The scientists explained that "analysis of the skeleton confirmed that the left lower limb had been surgically amputated."

"The way in which bone tissue has changed over time (known as bone remodeling) is consistent with clinical cases of successful uninfected amputations," they added.

According to the archaeologists, the healed bone confirmed that the procedure was not fatal to the patient, and explained that “the surgeon or the surgeons most likely understood the need to deal with it and treat it.”

"This discovery indicates that human medical knowledge was much more advanced in the distant past of our species than previously thought," the scientists said.

The remains were found in Liang Tipu Cave in eastern Borneo, which at that time was still connected to Eurasia.

The discovery was published in the journal Nature.

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