A Timeline Of Pre-Colombian Medicine In The Old World

Neanderthal Dentistry

130,000 BCE

Dating to even before the reign of Homo Sapiens, researchers have uncovered teeth of neanderthals which show signs of primitive dentistry, including drilling and filling cavities, as well as the removal of nerves in a primitive, and brutal, form of root canal.

Earliest Evidence of Trepaning

6500 BCE

One of the earliest known forms of surgery, trepaning involved drilling through the skull and exposing the brain using primitive tools, such as flint drills. Believed to have been performed in order to release "evil spirits", the procedure was commonplace throughout early human civilization, with some 1,500 Neolithic-era skulls (some 5-10% of those excavated) showing signs of the procedure. Notably, many skulls showed signs of healing, indicating the patient survived the initial procedure.

Earliest Surgical Amputations

4800 BCE

Dating to sometime between 4900 and 4700 BCE, the earliest documented surgical amputation seems to have been the removal of a hand belonging to a woman in what is now Bulgaria. Though the skeleton showed no other signs of trauma, the right hand of the woman, who was believed to have survived the operation but died in her 60s, showed evidence of amputation with sharpened flint tools. What's more, the bones show signs of complete healing, indicating the patient did indeed survive the procedure.

Shennong Ben Cao Jing Published

3000 BCE

Published sometime around 3,000 BCE, the Shennong Ben Cao Jing was an ancient Chinese herbal, or a tome depicting herbal remedies and medicines. Believed to be compiled from even older oral traditions, the tome serves as one of the earliest records of the use of plants as medicine.

Imhotep Describes 200 Diseases

2600 BCE

Revered as "The First Physician", Egyptian scholar Imhotep is believed to have diagnosed and treated more than 200 diseases and ailments in his lifetime, ranging from gout, to tuberculosis, and beyond. He is believed to have founded the first ever school of medicine, located in Memphis, Egypt.

Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus

1825 BCE

One of the largest manuscripts from Egypt's Middle Kingdom, the Kahun Gynecological Papyrus consisted of 34 paragraphs, each describing the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of particular gynecological ailments. It is believed to be the oldest medical text to emerge from Egypt, having been recorded around 1825 BCE.

Code of Hammurabi

1800 BCE

One of the oldest translated writings of antiquity, the Code of Hammurabi was a Babylonian code of law. It contained, among other things, rates to be charged by physicians, as well as punishments to be served in the event of medical malpractice.

First Functional Prosthesis in Egypt

950 BCE

Dating to around 950 BCE, the oldest known functional prosthesis was a wooden toe found on a mummy near Luxor, Egypt. The toe itself fit to the wearer by means of a leather harness, and displayed a level of craftsmanship indicating a familiarity with human anatomy.

Sushruta Samhita Written

550 BCE

Written sometime between the 6th and 7th centuries BCE, the Sushruta Samhita was a treatise on medicine written by the Indian physician Sushruta. Considered to be one of the most important surviving medical texts of the ancient world, the treatise described a number of ailments, treatments, and surgeries, including cataract removal and plastic surgery. Of note was the procedure of using skin flaps from the face for rhinoplasty surgery, a procedure still used in a modern capacity to this day.

Hippocrates of Cos is Born

460 BCE

One of the most famous figures in medicine, Hippocrates of Cos was a Greek physician who revolutionized medical studies in Greece by establishing the field as a distinct study, aside from rituals and philosophy. His "Hippocratic Oath", though commonly misunderstood, remains a notable feature of medical practice even to this day, with the famous "First, do no harm" being a mainstay of medical practice. Hippocrates' actions earned him the title of "The Father of Medicine".

Rise of Hippocratic Humorism

400 BCE

Inspired by the works of Alcmaeon of Croton, Hippocrates' theory of the Four Bodily Humors gains traction in the medical community, with many diseases believed to be caused by imbalances between the humors of Blood, Phlegm, Black Bile, and Yellow Bile. This belief would remain commonplace throughout pre-industrial medicine, and lead to such procedures as bloodletting in an attempt to "balance" the body's humors.

Diocles Writes the First Anatomy book

350 BCE

Having been born in Carystus sometime around 375 BCE, the Greek philosopher and physician Diocles was known for combining Hippocratic and Sicilian medical doctrines into his own works. Widely credited with publishing the first anatomy books, he also wrote on the topics of nutrition, botany, and embryology.

The Capua Leg

300 BCE

Dating back to around 300 BCE, this prosthetic leg found in Capua, Italy was believed to be the oldest prosthesis documented, until the discovery of a wooden toe fit to an Egyptian mummy.

Marcus Sergius' Prosthetic Arm

77

A Roman general during the Second Punic War, Marcus Sergius was recorded by Pliny the Elder as having had "a right hand made of iron for him and, going into battle with this bound to his arm". This form of prosthesis would become more common throughout Europe during the middle ages, usable for basic functions such as clutching a shield or banner.

Galen of Pergamon Born

129

A Greek physician who studied medicine from an early age, Galen of Pergamon gained notoriety tending to gladiators before moving to Rome in 162 CE. He would serve as advisor to several Roman emperors, including Marcus Aurelius, while also working on a number of medical treatises. Though human dissection was forbidden in Rome, his studies of animal anatomy produced models and texts which ranged from maps of the nervous system to organ functions which would be followed for centuries to come.

Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi Born

854

Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, often simply shortened to Al-Razi, was a Persian physician considered to be among the best in the Islamic world. Believed to have studied alchemy before medicine, Al-Razi was the first to document Smallpox and Measles as being two distinct diseases. His published works include the Kitāb al-Manṣūrī and Kitāb al-ḥāwī, which compiled medical knowledge from throughout the ancient world into unified texts.

Canon of Medicine Published

1025

Compiled by Persian scholar Avicenna in 1025 CE, the Canon of Medicine has long been one of the most important medical texts in history. A combination of Persian, Greco-Roman, Chinese, and Indian medical knowledge, the text remained a mainstay of medical practice for centuries.

Trota of Salerno Born

1050

A medical scholar from Salerno, Italy, Trota was a female scholar famous for her Trotula, a compilation of three texts on women's medicine which covered everything from menstruation, to pregnancy, to cosmetics.

First Spectacles Invented

1266

Outlined by Roger Bacon in 1266 CE, the Opus Majus detailed the use of corrective lenses as spectacles in order to correct poor eyesight, a development which would come to shape life for billions of people in the centuries ahead.

The Black Death Peaks in Europe

1350

A pandemic of Boubonic and Pneumonic Plague (Yersinia pestis) which peaked between 1347 and 1353, the Black Death spread to Europe on fleas and rats carried over from the Black Sea, where infected corpses had been used as a primitive biological weapon by the Mongols in their siege of Kaffa in the 1340s. At its height, the Black Death would kill an estimated 50 million people throughout Europe, wiping out a third of the continent's population.

The Vitruvian Man

1490

Drawn by Italian polymath Leonardo Da Vinci in 1490 CE, the Vitruvian Man stands as one of the most recognizable examples of Da Vinci's work in human anatomy. Having dissected many human cadavers and created tomes upon tomes of elaborately detailed sketches on the structure and functions of the human body, Da Vinci's work would demonstrate an understanding of human physiology centuries ahead of his contemporaries, much like his work in other fields.

Smallpox Spreads to America

1492

With Colombus' visit to the Americas in 1492, the Americas became ripe for exposure to disease by newly arriving Europeans, who carried with them pathogens against which the native populations had no immunity. Most devastating among these was smallpox, which would come to utterly devastate the New World in the coming centuries. This disease alone, while problematic for Europeans, proved disastrous in the Americas, where it may have wiped out as much as 90% of the population.