Greece · 4th–7th century AD · Paliokastro, Thasos, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece
Byzantine skull from Thasos in Greece bears traces of complex surgery
An Adelphi University team studied ten probably high-status burials on the island and thinks a trained military doctor treated serious injuries there between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.
Paliokastro, Thasos, Greece A skull from an early Byzantine burial on the Greek island of Thasos bears traces of an unusually complex surgical operation. That is the conclusion of anthropologist Anagnostis Agelarakis of Adelphi University. The skull dates from the fourth to the seventh century AD and comes from the Paliokastro area of the island, in the northern Aegean.
Agelarakis led the Adelphi University team that studied the burials. They found and examined ten skeletons: four women and six men. The team thinks these were probably people of high social status. It bases this on the location and architecture of the burial site.
The full results appear in a book published by Archaeopress in its Access Archaeology series. Its title is "Eastern Roman Mounted Archers and Extraordinary Medico-Surgical Interventions at Paliokastro on Thasos Island during the ProtoByzantine Period". Agelarakis described the findings to the Greek news agency AMNA.
Hard lives and skilled care
According to Agelarakis, the skeletons show that both the men and the women lived physically demanding lives. Several of them had suffered very serious injuries. He thinks a highly experienced practitioner treated these injuries.
“The very serious trauma cases sustained by both males and females had been treated surgically or orthopedically by a very experienced physician/surgeon with great training in trauma care. We believe it to have been a military physician.”
Anagnostis Agelarakis, anthropologist, Adelphi University
The military doctor is the team's interpretation. The book's title refers to eastern Roman mounted archers.
An operation despite a grim prognosis
The most striking case is a man's skull. According to the report, he probably had an infection that required surgery. Agelarakis says the doctor went ahead even though the outlook for the patient was poor.
“Even despite a grim prognosis, an extensive effort was given to this surgery for this male. So it's likely that he was a very important individual to the population at Paliokastro.”
Anagnostis Agelarakis, anthropologist, Adelphi University
A second man, presumably an archer, appears to have died while the doctor was trying to save him. He may instead have died shortly afterwards. Agelarakis has studied human remains for four decades. He calls the operation the most complex he has seen.
“The surgical operation is the most complex I have ever seen in my 40 years of working with anthropological materials. It is unbelievable that it was carried out, with the most complicated preparations for the intervention, and then the surgical operation itself which took place, of course, in a pre-antibiotic era.”
Anagnostis Agelarakis, anthropologist, Adelphi University
The surgical technique has not been described in detail in reports so far. Nor have reports said whether the first man survived the operation.
An earlier case from Veria
Greece has produced earlier evidence of skilled skull surgery from Roman times. In 2019 Greek archaeologists found the skeleton of a young woman who appears to have undergone brain surgery. Her bones date from the third century AD. They came from one of more than 1,000 graves excavated in an ancient cemetery near the city of Veria.
A photograph released by the Greek Ministry of Culture showed a large hole in her skull. According to reports at the time, the operation was probably an attempt to repair damage from a blow to the head. Ioannis Graikos, the archaeologist who led that dig, spoke to the Associated Press.
“We interpret the find as a case of complicated surgery which only a trained and specialized doctor could have attempted. She probably did not survive, as the wound was very large and there are no signs of healing around the edges.”
Ioannis Graikos, archaeologist who led the Veria excavation
Sources
- Skull from Thasos shows traces of highly complex ancient surgery (GreekReporter)
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