ANKARA, June 3. /Dunyo IA/. The remains of a Bronze Age child showing signs of cranial trepanation have been discovered in Uzbekistan, indicating that a surgical intervention may have been performed approximately 4,000 years ago, reports Dunyo IA correspondent, citing with reference to the Turkish magazine “Arkeofili”.

The unique discovery was made by an international team of archaeologists from Uzbekistan and Italy during excavations at the Jarkutan archaeological site in the Surkhandarya Region, near the border with Afghanistan.

The skull dates back to the late 3rd millennium BCE and is associated with the era of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, also known as the Oxus civilization. According to researchers, traces of trepanation were discovered on the skull of a child who died at approximately five years of age.

The head of the excavations, archaeologist and professor at the University of Salento, Enrico Ascalone, noted that the find provides crucial evidence of the high level of medical knowledge in the ancient societies of Central Asia.

According to the scientist, the discovery raises new questions about the development of medicine in the region, the level of professional skills possessed by ancient specialists, and the reasons for performing such a complex operation on a child.

The researchers hope that further work will help provide answers to these questions.