According to a new study, the oldest known example of an amputation is the young adult skeleton discovered in a cave in Indonesia that is missing its left foot and half of its left leg.
According to scientists, the amputation was done while the “patient” was a youngster, and he or she continued to live for many years as an amputee. The study, which was released on Wednesday in the journal Nature, suggests that the archaic operation may demonstrate that people were developing new medical techniques considerably earlier than previously believed.
According to Tim Maloney, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia and the study’s principal investigator, researchers discovered the grave while excavating a cave in Borneo, an area of the jungle recognized for having some of the oldest rock art in the world.
He explained that although much of the skeleton was present, it was missing its left foot and the lower portion of its left leg. The foot bones were meticulously taken, the experts determined after inspecting the remains, and they are neither missing from the burial or lost in an accident.
According to Maloney, the remaining leg bone displayed a clean, slanted incision that had fully healed. No infections were visible, which would be expected if a crocodile or another animal had bit off the child’s limb. Furthermore, there were no indications of a crushing fracture, which would have been anticipated if the limb had been amputated as a result of an accident.
