In the mass grave, they found the skeletons of more than ten people who were buried together. But one of the skeletons were different from the others. This difference was due to the surgery performed on her skull, and it was known as the first and oldest skull surgery in the world’s medical history. The time of this surgery goes back to 4,800 years.
The skull in question belonged to a 13-year-old girl who had a disease that caused fluid to accumulate inside the patient’s head. This disease is called “Hydrocephalus” in medical terms. The doctors of Shahre Sukhteh had made a triangular incision in that part of the patient’s skull, and with fantastic skill, they had been able to pull out the liquid from inside her skull. That triangular gap was in part called parietal in medical terms. The Parietal is a broad and square parietal bone that covers most of the human skull. Another point worth remembering is that this discovery shows that the doctors of Shahre Sukhteh knew about Hydrocephalus and its treatment 4800 years ago! This should be considered as one of the honors of ancient Iranian medical science.
Archaeologists’ studies show that this girl lived for nearly a year (or maybe six months) after the surgery and then died. There is no indication or proof that her death was due to surgery complications. Archaeologists’ research shows that the average life expectancy of women in Shahre Sukhteh was not more than 20 to 25 years, so a girl’s death at thirteen was not too early.
This surgical skull was obtained in the archaeological excavations of 1356 with the help of Italian archaeologists, and its medical and diagnostic examinations were carried out in Italy and Iran. The volume of the skull is slightly more than the usual size. This size of the skull was due to its disease, mainly in the left part of the skull. Among the examined skeletons of Shahre Sukhteh, three examples have been found so far, whose owners had hydrocephalus and were aged between six months and thirteen years. This disease may have spread to some extent in Shahre Sukhteh for unknown reasons.
The surgical skull of the girl from Shahre Sukhteh is now kept in the Tehran Museum of Medical History. In Aban 1399 (October 2020), this skull was recognized as having the value of registration in the list of national works of Iran.
The ancient world and skull surgery
The first indication of skull piercing (not treatment) dates back to prehistoric humans. In the Mesolithic age, prehistoric humans sometimes pierced the skull with a metal rod. This work was done between 5 and 10 thousand years ago. But as mentioned, it did not lead to the patient’s treatment.
Many of the 10,000 intact mummies recovered from the Inca civilization (in Peru, in Latin America) had signs of skull piercing. Dr. Mustafa Jaberansari and his colleagues, in research about skull surgery in Shahre Sukhteh, have considered piercing the skull in ancient times to be a “ritual and magical behavior for the treatment of epilepsy and mental illnesses” and have pointed out that: “The idea of the presence of unclean and evil spirits in people’s heads was an ancient superstition” that prompted magicians to pierce the patient’s skull so that the evil spirits would leave their heads! Witches used to do such painful work by making circular cuts in the skull.
Not long ago, an example of a metal plate being implanted on the skull surgery of the warrior from Peru cannot be the oldest example of skull surgery. While 4800 years ago, this work was done in Iran and Shahre Sukhteh, the skull surgery of the warrior from Peru cannot be the oldest and oldest example of skull surgery.
The Inca doctors had put a piece of iron on the wound to repair the warrior’s skull so the man could continue her life. This was done without anesthesia or sterilization and disinfection of medical instruments. In any case, what was done in Shahre Sukhteh several millennia ago, is very surprising and a sign of the progress of medical knowledge in that ancient city.
