Inca Skull Surgeons: More Successful Than Civil War Doctors

If you needed skull surgery, who would you choose? A doctor from the 1860s American Civil War, or a surgeon from the 1400s Inca Empire? You might be safer with the Inca doctor. Both groups performed an operation called trepanation. They cut a hole in the skull to relieve pressure or treat an injury. The Inca did this very often and with great skill. Their success rate was higher than that of doctors four hundred years later.

To understand this, it helps to know about the Inca. They built a huge empire in South America. They did this without things we think are necessary today. They had no written alphabet. They did not use the wheel. Yet they were excellent builders. Their surgeons had a key advantage. They knew about plant-based antiseptics. These natural substances helped prevent infection. This was very important when cutting into the skull.

The practice of trepanation is ancient. It dates back thousands of years. Many cultures performed it for health and spiritual reasons. In the Andes mountains of South America, it was common long before the Inca Empire. Early attempts had low survival rates. Over time, the technique got better. It reached its peak during the Inca period.

A team of researchers studied this change. They examined over 600 ancient Peruvian skulls. The skulls were from 400 BC to the mid-1500s. Their work shows a clear timeline of how the surgery became more effective.