AMIS UMR 5288 CNRS. Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, 1 rue Maurice Arnoux, 92120, Montrouge, France.
IRD - Musée de l'Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75116, Paris, France.
Sci Rep. 2018 Apr 19;8(1):5536. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23914-1.
The earliest cranial surgery (trepanation) has been attested since the Mesolithic period. The meaning of such a practice remains elusive but it is evident that, even in prehistoric times, humans from this period and from the Neolithic period had already achieved a high degree of mastery of surgical techniques practiced on bones. How such mastery was acquired in prehistoric societies remains an open question. The analysis of an almost complete cow cranium found in the Neolithic site of Champ-Durand (France) (3400-3000 BC) presenting a hole in the right frontal bone reveals that this cranium underwent cranial surgery using the same techniques as those used on human crania. If bone surgery on the cow cranium was performed in order to save the animal, Champ-Durant would provide the earliest evidence of veterinary surgical practice. Alternatively, the evidence of surgery on this cranium can also suggest that Neolithic people practiced on domestic animals in order to perfect the technique before applying it to humans.
最早的颅骨手术（环钻术）可以追溯到中石器时代。这种做法的意义仍然难以捉摸，但很明显，即使在史前时期，来自这个时期和新石器时代的人类已经在骨骼上的手术技术方面达到了很高的掌握程度。史前社会是如何获得这种掌握程度的，仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。对在法国尚特多兰新石器时代遗址（公元前 3400 年至 3000 年）发现的几乎完整的牛颅骨的分析显示，右侧额骨上有一个洞，这表明该颅骨经历了使用与人类颅骨相同技术的颅骨手术。如果对牛颅骨进行骨外科手术是为了拯救动物，那么尚特多兰将提供兽医外科手术最早的证据。或者，对这颅骨进行手术的证据也可能表明，新石器时代的人在将技术应用于人类之前，曾在家畜身上进行过手术，以完善技术。
