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Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery and Nicholas Henri Jacob, ‘Iconografia d'anatomia chirurgica e di medicina operatoria,’ Florence, 1841.
6 January, 2019 - 14:04 ancient-origins

The Ugly History of Cosmetic Surgery

Reality television shows based on surgical transformations, such as The Swan and Extreme Makeover , were not the first public spectacles to offer women the ability to compete for the chance to be...
Human skulls have been found with evidence of craniotomy.
12 November, 2018 - 22:58 Ed Whelan

Skulls Show Evidence Ancient Chinese Brain Surgeons Operated 3,000 Years Ago

Chinese experts have determined that two skulls found in a historic site show evidence of ancient craniotomy. The finds are being taken to demonstrate that craniotomy, along with other advanced...
The ancient site of Stonehenge
5 August, 2017 - 23:02 mariaw

Secret Stonehenge: Mounds, Artifacts, and Intrigue

Stonehenge stands within a vast ritual landscape. Encircling the towering stones was once over 800 round mounds adding to the temple’s splendour. From within these enigmatic mounds some of the finest...
Extraction of the Stone of Folly
21 May, 2017 - 01:59 ancient-origins

Five Bloodcurdling Medical Procedures That are No Longer Performed … Thankfully

Surgeries and treatments come and go. A new BMJ guideline, for example, makes “strong recommendations” against the use of arthroscopic surgery for certain knee conditions. But while this key-hole...
Relief of a seated poet (Menander) with masks of New Comedy, 1st century B.C. – early 1st century AD.
1 May, 2017 - 15:21 MartiniF

Decapitation? No Problem. The Magic of Restoration: Ancient Myths and Practices of Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery, not just a modern practice, has always existed and was shrouded in mystery, magic, and eroticism. An Indian physician named Sushruta, who was widely regarded in India as the “father...
19 April, 2017 - 15:34 MartiniF

Woman, Healer, Goddess? Famous (and Forbidden) Female Physicians in the Ancient World

Throughout history, women have always been healers. They were pharmacists, cultivating healing herbs and exchanging the secrets of their uses. They were also nurses, counselors, midwives who traveled...
Evidence Emerges of Cranial Surgery in China Dating Back More than 3,500 Years
9 December, 2016 - 00:51 Mark Miller

Evidence Emerges of Cranial Surgery in China Dating Back More than 3,500 Years

New evidence has emerged that suggests ancient surgeons in China were drilling or scraping holes in people’s heads more than 3,500 years ago. The process, known as trepanation, was used in various...
The famous Ica Stones in the collection of Professor Cabrera.
12 September, 2016 - 21:50 WalterJoergLangbein

Library in Stone: The Ica Stones of Professor Cabrera – Part II

I came to the realization that the dismissive attitude of orthodox science annoyed and aggrieved Professor Cabrera. He frequently voiced his outrage at the refusal of mainstream scientists to...
Library in Stone: The Ica Stones of Professor Cabrera – Part I
12 September, 2016 - 14:48 WalterJoergLangbein

Library in Stone: The Ica Stones of Professor Cabrera – Part I

In 1961, the Rio Ica burst its banks and flooded parts of the Ocucaje Desert. Was an earthquake responsible for the flood? When the water had retreated, the local farmers inspected the damage. Their...
Hundreds and Hundreds of objects in the once-secret collection of Professor Cabrera.
10 September, 2016 - 21:51 WalterJoergLangbein

Professor Cabrera’s Cabinet of Horrors: Secret Chambers and Shocking Artifacts with Controversial Origins

In Ica, Peru, I visited the most mysterious museum on our planet. It is the Museo de Piedras Grabadas de Ica , (Museum of the Engraved Stones of Ica). Professor Javier Cabrera Darquea (1924-2001)...
Moche Sacrifice Illustration
26 August, 2016 - 00:57 dhwty

By the Cut of a Tumi: An Iconic Ceremonial Artifact of Ancient Peru

The tumi was a ceremonial knife used by several pre-Columbian cultures that inhabited the Peruvian coast, including the Moche, Sicán, Chimu, and Inca cultures, to carry out blood sacrifice and...
16 August, 2016 - 22:46 ancient-origins

Reconstructing Brain Surgery as It Was Conducted Around 3,000 Years Ago

A step by step academic investigation into how Bronze Age medics conducted trepanation operations in Siberia has been conducted based on a male skull found last year in the Nefteprovod II burial...
Representational image showing trepanation. A trepanated skull of a girl from the Neolithic period (3500 BC); the patient survived. Natural History Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland.
6 July, 2016 - 00:49 Natalia Klimczak

7,000-Year-Old Head Surgery: One of the Oldest Trepanned Skulls Discovered in Sudan

A remarkable discovery was made during excavations in a Neolithic settlement in Omdurman in Sudan – an ancient skeleton with signs of trepanation (drilling a hole in the skull), dating back around 7,...
Ritually Motivated Traditions May Be Behind Holes Drilled into Skulls in Prehistoric Russia
6 May, 2016 - 21:52 Mark Miller

Ritually Motivated Traditions May Be Behind Holes Drilled into Skulls in Prehistoric Russia

Researchers believe holes cut in people’s skulls more than 4,000 years ago in Russia involved some kind of rite rather than medical surgery. Amazingly, some of the people, who were apparently very...
Painting entitled ‘Abulcasis blistering a patient in the hospital at Cordova.’
26 November, 2015 - 14:50 dhwty

Al-Zahrawi: The Legacy of the Father of Modern Surgery

The period from the 8th century until the 13th century AD is commonly referred to as the Islamic Golden Age. During this era, the Islamic world produced numerous scholars who contributed greatly to...
The mummified remains of Usermontu, Rosicrucian San Jose Museum
20 July, 2015 - 14:35 aprilholloway

Medical Mystery of Usermontu: Why the Discovery of 2,600-Year-Old Knee Screw Left Experts Dumbfounded

In 1971, the Rosicrucian Museum in California acquired a sealed ancient Egyptian coffin containing the well-preserved mummy of a high status Egyptian male. More than two decades later, a team of...

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