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Bronze Age brain surgery

Graphic: Kalisher et al., 2023, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0
Graphic: Kalisher et al., 2023, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0

Earlier this year, a 3,500-year-old medical case reared its head—with a gaping hole in it, I might add. A team of archaeologists found that two Bronze Age brothers suffered from chronic disease, and one of their skulls had a slice cut out of it, in an apparent early attempt at brain surgery.