Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo

Tim Ryan Maloney (), India Ella Dilkes-Hall (), Melandri Vlok (), Adhi Agus Oktaviana (), Pindi Setiawan (), Andika Arief Drajat Priyatno (), Marlon Ririmasse (), I. Made Geria, Muslimin A. R. Effendy, Budi Istiawan, Falentinus Triwijaya Atmoko, Shinatria Adhityatama, Ian Moffat (), Renaud Joannes-Boyau (), Adam Brumm () and Maxime Aubert ()
Additional contact information
Tim Ryan Maloney: Griffith University
India Ella Dilkes-Hall: University of Western Australia
Melandri Vlok: University of Sydney
Adhi Agus Oktaviana: BRIN, OR Arkeologi, Bahasa dan Sastra, Pusat Riset Arkeometri
Pindi Setiawan: Bandung Institute of Technology
Andika Arief Drajat Priyatno: Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya Kalimantan Timur
Marlon Ririmasse: BRIN, OR Arkeologi, Bahasa dan Sastra, Pusat Riset Lingkungan, Maritim, dan Budaya Berkelanjutan
I. Made Geria: BRIN, OR Arkeologi, Bahasa dan Sastra, Pusat Riset Lingkungan, Maritim, dan Budaya Berkelanjutan
Muslimin A. R. Effendy: Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya Kalimantan Timur
Budi Istiawan: Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya Kalimantan Timur
Falentinus Triwijaya Atmoko: Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya Kalimantan Timur
Shinatria Adhityatama: Griffith University
Ian Moffat: Flinders University
Renaud Joannes-Boyau: Southern Cross University
Adam Brumm: Griffith University
Maxime Aubert: Griffith University

Nature, 2022, vol. 609, issue 7927, 547-551

Abstract: Abstract The prevailing view regarding the evolution of medicine is that the emergence of settled agricultural societies around 10,000 years ago (the Neolithic Revolution) gave rise to a host of health problems that had previously been unknown among non-sedentary foraging populations, stimulating the first major innovations in prehistoric medical practices1,2. Such changes included the development of more advanced surgical procedures, with the oldest known indication of an ‘operation’ formerly thought to have consisted of the skeletal remains of a European Neolithic farmer (found in Buthiers-Boulancourt, France) whose left forearm had been surgically removed and then partially healed3. Dating to around 7,000 years ago, this accepted case of amputation would have required comprehensive knowledge of human anatomy and considerable technical skill, and has thus been viewed as the earliest evidence of a complex medical act3. Here, however, we report the discovery of skeletal remains of a young individual from Borneo who had the distal third of their left lower leg surgically amputated, probably as a child, at least 31,000 years ago. The individual survived the procedure and lived for another 6–9 years, before their remains were intentionally buried in Liang Tebo cave, which is located in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, in a limestone karst area that contains some of the world’s earliest dated rock art4. This unexpectedly early evidence of a successful limb amputation suggests that at least some modern human foraging groups in tropical Asia had developed sophisticated medical knowledge and skills long before the Neolithic farming transition.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05160-8

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