The Washington times., 1923-09-04
ANC|ENT|ND|ANS
WERE SKILLED
SURGEONS
Skull Found in New Mexico
Reveals TrepSining Was :
Known 1000 Years Ago.
BY Cosmopolltan News Service.


NEW YORK. Sept. A chal-
lenge to what most people concCde
to be the marvellous progress OF
the twentieth century ir surgery
has just been unearthed at the
Navajo Indian reservation in New
Mexico.
A skull was found at Mitten Rock
not only showing the United States
may have been inhabited by a race
OF fairly high intelligence 1000
years ago. but one which knew
how to perform the delicate opera
tion known as trephining. This
is an operation to bore hole in
the skull to remove an obstacle.
The patient research Of modern
medical men, combined with labor
Countries experiments, and deveslp.
nent$ In mechanical instruments,
has made possible to wreSt from na-
tltre what was believed to be an
cther OF her secrets In the pelfcc-
tor of this operation Yet the
| skull found by DIR. Earl HI. Morris,
an operation for trephining, scien-
tie American Museum Of Natural
History, definitely showed signs of
an operation for Trephining. scien-
lists were informed i'm q message
from the explorer. Thus they said.
/ what the moderns have Just learned
an ancient race seems to have
known.
More Proofs Coming.
Scientists said today, another
proof may thus be forthcoming
that under the ruins of the old
world are buried the wrecks, Of
civilization perhaps SURPRISING that
Of this age.
"The discover Of the trephined
skull" said DR.. C. w. Morris. Of
the museum, today, ''may establish
that what is now the United States
may have been peopled 1000 or
even 10000 years ago by a race
that practiced surgery. Geological
formations enable scientists to set
the time when this people lived as
being about 1000 years ago.
'HThe period may extend to an
unknown number OF thousands or
years, but IL scientists should try
. to go further back than that 1t
would all be guess work.
sWe are awaiting the arrival or
the trephined skull in New York,
SO we may be able TO examine 1t
colsely.
cdr Morris discovery, so far az
I know, is the first evidence found
| in North America that prehistoric
surgeons understood how to oper-
ate for ailments Of the brain. /
have understood that two other
skulls showed trephining had been
performed have been found on the
| North American continent, but
about this am not definitely in
formed.
Former Discovery.
"Anthropologists have long
known that trephining was per-
| formed in ancient Peru. A num-
Der Of skulls have been unearthed
in that country by explorers, sew.
eral OF which are now in the Amer
ican Museum Of Natural History.
The most noted Of these is the
| famous squiers skull, discovered
in Peru in 1872 by the late e.
George Squiers, q noted explorer
\ and anthropolOgist and former
United States commissioners to
/ Peru. Several works have been
written about this remarkable spec
| linen, which has been the subject
Of discussion by scientists in this
country and elsewhere.
"The age of this particular skull
is unknown except that it predates
| the arrival Of Columbus in North
America. The piltdown skull. found
in England some years ago, Is
| thought to date back to perhaps
100000 B. c., while that of the
Neanderthal man, discovered in
France. is variously estimated to
be from $4,000 to 10000 years
old. Neither Of these showed any
| indications of cranial surgery.
| "Dr. Morris. who has been en-
gagged in exploration work for the
museum in New Mexico for about
five years, returning to New York
at intervals, Is not expected to
arrive here with the skull until
fall"