Ancient Amputation

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

The discovery of a body missing a foot in a thirty one thousand year old grave suggests our ancient ancestors may have been capable of performing complex surgery. The foot seems to have been cleanly amputated, and the patient survived for several years afterwards. Dr Tim Maloney from Australia’s Griffith University made the find and Charlotte Roberts Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at Durham University who researches the evolution of medicine gave us her analysis. Craters from meteorites aren’t always easy to find, they can look similar to other geological features. However techniques more closely associated with forensic science are helping to provide clues. it’s all in the way the incoming asteroid or meteorite burns everything in its path says Dr Ania Losiak from the Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Science. The Greenland ice sheets are melting, a new analysis paints a concerning picture about the impact on sea levels. Researcher Jason Box takes us out onto the ice to see this process in action. And why do chimpanzees drum? Language researchers Catherine Hobaiter and Vesta Eleuteri have been following them around the jungles of Uganda to find out.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ever wondered what the world's wealthiest people did to get so ridiculously rich?
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0:11.9	And then we decide if they are actually good, bad or just plain wealthy.
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0:19.2	or what Jeff Bezos really did to become the first person in history to pocket $100 billion,
0:24.6	listen to Good Bad Billionaire with me, Simon Jack, and me, Zinc Zinc.
0:28.5	Listen, on BBC Sounds.
0:31.2	You have downloaded Inside Science from the BBC first broadcast on Thursday,
0:36.6	the 8th of September 2022. I'm Marnie Chesterton.
0:41.2	Hello, a lot of I'm picking the past in this week's show.
0:44.8	We'll be hearing about how a forensic approach has helped illuminate variously
0:49.2	the scenes of ancient asteroid strikes, the melt rate of Greenland's ice sheets,
0:54.1	and some impressive amputation skills a whole 24,000 years before we thought humans could even do surgery.
1:01.4	Plus, monkey-dramming, well technically apes,
1:05.0	and Led Zeppelin fans need to stay tuned to hear about the John Bonham of the Forest
1:10.2	as we hear about the signature percussive styles of different chimps.
1:14.9	But let's start with some detective work worthy of the finest forensic pathology drama.
1:20.8	The earliest human surgery dates from about 7,000 years ago,
1:24.9	when a French neolithic farmer seems to have had his forearm removed in a successful operation.
1:31.0	Now this fits with the narrative of the development of medicine.
1:34.1	Around 10,000 years ago, we settled down, started farming,
1:37.9	and society started inventing all sorts of new techniques, including surgery.
	...

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