The Evidence for Amputation Surgery in Long Dead Humans

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A team from Griffith University in Australia has found the remains of an early human. The body was buried with stone markers and red ochre or earth pigment grave goods. It is thought that they died around 31,000 years before present. Finds like this are exceptionally rare but something else caught their attention as they uncovered the skeleton. A pattern of unusual bony growth is different from what might be seen if the foot had been lost as a result of something like an animal bite. This suggests precise cutting,. deliberate amputation, is the most likely explanation.

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