Ancient Egyptians tried to treat cancer 4,000 years ago, cut-marked skull indicates

By Emily Cooke published 9 hours ago

Cut marks discovered surrounding cancerous lesions on an ancient Egyptian skull suggest that humans were conducting cancer surgery more than 4,000 years ago.


Ancient Egyptians tried to surgically treat cancer more than 4,000 years ago, researchers have discovered.

In a new study, researchers analyzed a human skull from the University of Cambridge's Duckworth Collection dating to between 2686 and 2345 B.C. The skull contained evidence of a large primary tumor, as well as more than 30 smaller, metastatic lesions. The researchers discovered that these lesions were surrounded by cut marks, possibly made using a sharp object such as a metal instrument. This suggests that ancient Egyptians attempted to conduct surgery to treat the patient, who is believed to have been a man in his early 30s, the researchers said.

Until now, the oldest-known description of cancer came from around 1600 B.C. Edwin Smith Papyrus from Egypt, which is thought to be a copy of a work from centuries earlier. The text chronicled several breast tumors but underlined that there was "no treatment" for them. The new findings, which were published Wednesday (May 29) in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, may subsequently shift our conception of when modern medicine began, the authors said.

"What we found is the first evidence of a surgical intervention directly related to cancer," study co-author Edgard Camarós Perez, a paleopathologist at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, told Live Science. "This is where modern medicine starts.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/ancient-egyptians-tried-to-treat-cancer-4000-years-ago-cut-marked-skull-indicates