Ancient Egyptian skull may show attempts to treat cancer | Tech News [Video]

An ‘extraordinary’ 4,000-year-old Egyptian skull shows signs of attempts to treat cancer.

Cutmarks on the skull could be indications that ancient Egyptians tried to operate on excessive tissue growth, say scientists.

An alternative theory is that they tried to learn more about cancerous disorders after a patient’s death.

Evidence in ancient texts shows that – for their times – the ancient Egyptians were ‘exceptionally skilled’ at medicine and could identify, describe, treat diseases and traumatic injuries and even put in dental fillings.

However, other conditions, such as cancer, they couldn’t treat. But a new study strongly suggests that they might have tried.

An international team of researchers examined two human skulls, each thousands of years old.

Study first author Dr Tatiana Tondini, a researcher at the University of Tübingen, Germany, said: ‘We see that although ancient Egyptians were able to deal with complex cranial fractures, cancer was still a medical knowledge frontier.

‘We wanted to learn about the role …