A 4,000-year-old skull of a young child bearing distinct marks of ancient skull surgery—known as trepanation—has been unearthed at the Jarkutan archaeological site in the Surkhandarya region, located near Uzbekistan's border with Afghanistan.
The discovery was made by a joint international research team of Uzbek and Italian scientists. According to the experts, the skull dates back to the late 3rd millennium BC, placing it squarely within the era of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, also famously known as the Oxus Civilization.
Scientists revealed that the structural traces of the surgical trepanation were identified on the skull of a child who died at approximately five years of age.
Archaeologist Enrico Ascalone from the University of Salento in Italy, who led the excavation, emphasized that this breakthrough demonstrates the remarkably high level of medical knowledge and anatomical skill present in Central Asia four millennia ago.
Researchers believe this artifact raises profound new scientific questions regarding how medicine evolved in ancient societies, who exactly performed these highly intricate operations, and what underlying conditions necessitated them. Academic research will continue to unravel these mysteries.
Stay up to date with all the latest news:
