Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Advertisement

Nature Precedings
  • View all journals
  • Search
  • My Account Login
  • Explore content
  • About the journal
  • RSS feed
  1. nature
  2. nature precedings
  3. articles
  4. article
The oldest amputation on a Neolithic human skeleton in France
Download PDF
Your article has downloaded

Similar articles being viewed by others

Slider with three articles shown per slide. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate the slides or the slide controller buttons at the end to navigate through each slide.

Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo

07 September 2022

Tim Ryan Maloney, India Ella Dilkes-Hall, … Maxime Aubert

The specialist in regeneration—the Axolotl—a suitable model to study bone healing?

30 June 2022

A. Polikarpova, A. Ellinghaus, … K. Schmidt-Bleek

First Documented Pathologies in Tenontosaurus tilletti with Comments on Infection in Non-Avian Dinosaurs

18 June 2019

T. C. Hunt, J. E. Peterson, … J. L. Berry

The hallucal interphalangeal ossicle: anatomy and basis for ultrasound-guided surgical shaving

21 March 2022

Simone Moroni, Javier Márquez, … Marko Konschake

Non-union bone fractures

05 August 2021

Britt Wildemann, Anita Ignatius, … Jesse B. Jupiter

Morphometric description of the koala humerus using microcomputed tomography

27 October 2022

Jason Hawkins, Rachel M. Basa, … Kenneth A. Johnson

Impact of plantaris ligamentous tendon

25 February 2021

Łukasz Olewnik, Piotr Karauda, … Michał Polguj

Solid locked intramedullary nailing for expeditious return of bone-setting-induced abnormal fracture union victims to work in South-western Nigeria

12 December 2022

Stephen Adesope Adesina, Samuel Uwale Eyesan, … James Idowu Owolabi

A new species of Homo from the Late Pleistocene of the Philippines

10 April 2019

Florent Détroit, Armand Salvador Mijares, … Philip J. Piper

Download PDF
  • Manuscript
  • Open Access
  • Published: 30 October 2007

The oldest amputation on a Neolithic human skeleton in France

  • Cecile Buquet-Marcon1,
  • Charlier Philippe2 &
  • Samzun Anaick3 

Nature Precedings (2007)Cite this article

  • 8060 Accesses

  • 14 Citations

  • 1922 Altmetric

  • Metrics details

Abstract

While 'surgical' practices such as trepanations are well attested since the first stages of the European Neolithic, the amputation of limbs in Prehistoric periods has not been well-documented until the case presented here. The particularly well-preserved remains of an aged male were recently uncovered in the Neolithic site (4900-4700 BC) of Buthiers-Boulancourt in the vicinity of Paris, France. It was already noticed in situ that the distal part of the left humerus was abnormal and this led us to the hypothesis of a partially healed 'surgical' amputation.The further investigations reported here confirm a traumatic origin and a partial cicatrisation after surgery, indicating that the patient survived. It also proves the remarkable medical skills developed during Prehistorical times. In addition, the associated grave goods are original, including the skeleton of an animal, a polished schist axe and a massive 30 cm long flint pick. Despite the serious handicap from which he suffered in this pastoral-agricultural community, the buried man obviously enjoyed some particular social status, as suggested by the remarkable and 'prestigious' accompanying grave-goods. If indeed this man benefited from some form of community care, this would indicate the level of social solidarity in Western Europe almost 7000 years ago.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRAP/UMR 5199 PACEA, Palaeoanthropology https://www.nature.com/nature

    Cecile Buquet-Marcon

  2. Hopital Universitaire, EPHE La Sorbonne, Forensic Department https://www.nature.com/nature

    Charlier Philippe

  3. INRAP/UMR 7041, ‘Protohistoire europeenne’ https://www.nature.com/nature

    Samzun Anaick

Authors
  1. Cecile Buquet-Marcon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Charlier Philippe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Samzun Anaick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cecile Buquet-Marcon.

Rights and permissions

Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Buquet-Marcon, C., Philippe, C. & Anaick, S. The oldest amputation on a Neolithic human skeleton in France. Nat Prec (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2007.1278.1

Download citation

  • Received: 29 October 2007

  • Accepted: 30 October 2007

  • Published: 30 October 2007

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2007.1278.1

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Keywords

  • Neolithic human skeleton
  • amputation

This article is cited by

  • Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo

    • Tim Ryan Maloney
    • India Ella Dilkes-Hall
    • Maxime Aubert

    Nature (2022)

  • Earliest known surgery was of a child in Borneo 31,000 years ago

    • Charlotte Ann Roberts

    Nature (2022)

  • Prehistoric child’s amputation is oldest surgery of its kind

    • McKenzie Prillaman

    Nature (2022)

  • Paleomedicine and the Evolutionary Context of Medicinal Plant Use

    • Karen Hardy

    Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia (2021)

  • Hallmarks of amputation surgery

    • Konstantinos Markatos
    • Marianna Karamanou
    • Andreas F. Mavrogenis

    International Orthopaedics (2019)

Download PDF

Advertisement

Explore content

  • Research articles
  • News & Comment
  • RSS feed

About the journal

  • Journal Information

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

  • Explore articles by subject
  • Find a job
  • Guide to authors
  • Editorial policies

Nature Precedings (Nat Preced)

nature.com sitemap

About Nature Portfolio

  • About us
  • Press releases
  • Press office
  • Contact us

Discover content

  • Journals A-Z
  • Articles by subject
  • Nano
  • Protocol Exchange
  • Nature Index

Publishing policies

  • Nature portfolio policies
  • Open access

Author & Researcher services

  • Reprints & permissions
  • Research data
  • Language editing
  • Scientific editing
  • Nature Masterclasses
  • Nature Research Academies
  • Research Solutions

Libraries & institutions

  • Librarian service & tools
  • Librarian portal
  • Open research
  • Recommend to library

Advertising & partnerships

  • Advertising
  • Partnerships & Services
  • Media kits
  • Branded content

Career development

  • Nature Careers
  • Nature Conferences
  • Nature events

Regional websites

  • Nature Africa
  • Nature China
  • Nature India
  • Nature Italy
  • Nature Japan
  • Nature Korea
  • Nature Middle East
  • Privacy Policy
  • Use of cookies
  • Legal notice
  • Accessibility statement
  • Terms & Conditions
  • California Privacy Statement
Springer Nature

© 2023 Springer Nature Limited

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing