Based on skeleton examination, cave-paintings and mummies the study of
prehistoric medicine tells that the surgical experience dated with skull
trepanning, male circumcision and warfare wound healing. In prehistoric
tribes, medicine was a mixture of magic, herbal remedy, and superstitious
beliefs practiced by witch doctors. The practice of surgery was first
recorded in clay tablets discovered in ancient rests of Mesopotamia,
translation of which has nowadays been published in Diagnoses in Assyrian
and Babylonian Medicine. Some simple surgical procedures were performed like
puncture and drainage, scraping and wound treatment. The liability of
physicians who performed surgery was noted in a collection of legal
decisions made by Hammurabi about the principles of relationship between
doctors and patients. Other ancient cultures had also had surgical knowledge
including India, China and countries in the Middle East. The part of ancient
Indian ayurvedic system of medicine devoted to surgery Sushruta Samhita is a
systematized experience of ancient surgical practice, recorded by Sushruta
in 500 B.C.E. Ancient Indian surgeons were highly skilled and familiar with
a lot of surgical procedures and had pioneered plastic surgery. In the
ancient Egyptian Empire medicine and surgery developed mostly in temples:
priests were also doctors or surgeons, well specialized and educated. The
Edwin Smith Papyrus, the world?s oldest surviving surgical text, was written
in the 17th century B.C.E., probably based on material from a thousand years
earlier. This papyrus is actually a textbook on trauma surgery, and
describes anatomical observation and examination, diagnosis, treatment, and
prognosis of numerous injuries in detail. Excavated mummies reveal some of
the surgical procedures performed in the ancient Egypt: excision of the
tumors, puncture and drainage pus abscesses, dentistry, amputation and even
skull trepanation, always followed by magic and spiritual procedures.
Various types of instruments were innovated, in the beginning made of stone
and bronze, later of iron. Under the Egyptian influence, surgery was
developed in ancient Greece and in Roman Empire. Prosperity of surgery was
mostly due to practice in treating numerous battlefield injuries. Records
from the pre-Hippocrates period are poor, but after him, according to many
writings, medicine and surgery became a science, medical schools were formed
all over the Mediterranean, and surgeons were well-trained professionals.
Ancient surgery closed a chapter when Roman Empire declined, standing-by up
to the 18th century when restoration of the whole medicine began.
Surgery before common era (B.C.E.)
