The operation was reportedly performed with flint tools and the patient apparently survived.
- Mastoidectomy is an intervention that was performed to treat acute ear infections
- It consisted in removing a fragment of cranial bone at the level of the mastoids
- These interventions were frequent before the arrival of antibiotics
It was at the time when history was beginning to be written. It was more than 5,000 years ago and we had not yet mastered metalworking. And yet, the traces of a surgical intervention were discovered on the skull of a contemporary woman of that time. She would have undergone a mastoidectomy, an operation long practiced to treat acute ear infections and relieve pain before antibiotics brought – much later! – a less invasive solution. The oldest traces of such an intervention date back to the 11th century.
The patient survived
It was during excavations at a Spanish archaeological site that this skull, whose age has been estimated at 5,300 years, was discovered. It clearly bears the trace of the intervention carried out, a perforation on each side of the skull at the level of the mastoid bones, signs of the removal of part of the bone behind the ear allowing the infection to be treated. Better, the skull also bears traces of cuts on the edges of the bony parts removed, which shows that it is not an accidental damage to the cranial box but a voluntary intervention. And above all, as pointed out researchers from the University of Valladolid in the journal Scientific Reports“signs of bone regeneration and remodeling are visible“. Which means the operation was successful and the patient survived!
flint tools
One can wonder about the technical means available to the “doctors” of the time to perform such an intervention. Indeed, going back more than 5,000 years brings us back to the Palaeolithic, a period when the only known tools were mostly made of flint. It is therefore this material that would have been used to make the cranial perforations. “This discovery is proof that this is “the first documented mastoidectomy to date“, underline the researchers.
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