Cancer was already known in ancient times, and this proves that we, modern people, did not necessarily cause the problem ourselves.
According to archeological findings, the ancient Egyptians tried to surgically remove cancerous lesions. These medical miracles prove that mankind has been fighting cancer for thousands of years.
Today, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world, so medical science is focused on finding effective treatments and possible cures. However, based on recent discoveries, it has become clear that this is not a new problem, it was already faced in ancient Egypt. Almost 5,000-year-old skulls provided the key to the realm of medical miracles of the time.
5000 years of medical miracles
We already knew that the ancient Egyptians were skilled in medical practice. Historical records show that they were able to identify, describe and treat diseases and traumatic injuries. They even made prostheses and dental fillings.
Spanish, German and British researchers have now gone even further by examining ancient skulls: they have come to the conclusion that Egyptian doctors tried to understand and cure cancerous diseases as early as 5,000 years ago. According to a study reported by Cosmos Magazine, the cut marks found on the skulls may indicate surgical attempts or autopsies to treat cancer.
One of the skulls found in Giza was that of a man who died at the age of 30-35, and the other was that of a woman who died at the age of more than 50. They underwent CT scans, which revealed a large lesion that could have been caused by excessive tissue growth, also known as tumors. An additional 30 smaller, round, metastatic lesions were also identified, including some that were apparently being treated.
It appears that the ancient Egyptians performed some sort of surgical procedure for the presence of cancer cells, which proves that ancient Egyptian medicine also performed experimental treatments or medical research on cancer.
- said Albert Isidro, a researcher at Sagrat Cori University Hospital in Spain, who says that this is indicated by the cuts found on the skull.
Traces of surgical interventions lead to new assumptions in medicine
Although it is not clear whether the traces of surgical interventions testify to attempts to treat cancer, or to the fact that an autopsy was performed on a deceased cancer patient to learn more about tumors, they still indicate that they were already aware in ancient Egypt with this type of disease. All this happened around the time when Pharaoh Khufu ordered the construction of the largest pyramid at Giza. This is shocking because medical science has until now started from the assumption that cancers were caused by the environmental damage associated with the rise of modern technology.
We wanted to find out the role of cancer in the past, find out how widespread this disease was in ancient times, and how the medicine of that time was able to treat these pathological cases
- explained the co-author of the study, Tatiana Tondini, a researcher at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
It is certain that, in addition to ancient Egypt, cancer was already known in the ancient Roman Empire, so much so that the Roman physician Celsus, who died in 50 BC, already wrote about the recurrence of the disease after the tumor cells were removed from the patient. And the ancient Greek doctors, Galen and Hippocrates, talked about the fact that they could not find a cure for tumors. Well, thousands of years have passed since then, and we're still pretty much in the same place. But at least we know that we, modern people, did not cause the trouble.
Featured image: Pixabay/Illustration
