7 Unusual  Ancient Medical Techniques

Trepanation

Humanity’s oldest form of surgery is also one of its most gruesome. As far back as 7,000 years ago, civilizations around

the world engaged in trepanation—the practice of boring holes in the skull as a means of curing illnesses. Researchers can only speculate on how or why this grisly form of brain surgery first

developed. A common theory holds that it may have been some form of tribal ritual or even a method for releasing evil spirits believed to possess the sick and mentally ill.

Still others argue that it was a more conventional surgery used to treat epilepsy, headaches, abscesses and blood clots.

Trepanned skulls found in Peru hint that it was also a common emergency treatment for

cleaning out bone fragments left behind by

skull fractures, and evidence shows that many of the patients survived the surgery.

Some healers even promised that by consuming noxious brews containing poisonous mercury, sulfur and arsenic, their patients would gain eternal life and the ability to walk on water. One of the most famous casualties of this diet was the Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who supposedly died after ingesting mercury pills designed to make him immortal.

Most disgusting of all, Egyptian physicians used human and animal excrement as a cure-all remedy for diseases and injuries.

According to 1500 B.C.’s Ebers Papyrus, donkey, dog, gazelle and fly dung were all celebrated for their healing properties and their

ability to ward off bad spirits. While these repugnant remedies may have occasionally led to tetanus and other infections, they probably weren’t entirely ineffective—research shows the microflora found in some types of animal dung contain antibiotic substances.

Dabilonian Skull Cure

For the ancient Babylonians, most illnesses were thought to be the result of demonic forces or punishment by the gods for past misdeeds. Doctors often had more in common with priests and exorcists than modern

physicians, and their cures usually involved some

component of magic. For example, if a patient ground

their teeth, the healer might suspect that the ghost of a deceased family member was trying to contact them as they slept.