(ORDO NEWS) — The remains of a headless warrior from the 13th century were discovered in Greece in the 1990s.
Now, his unique ” gold-threaded jaw ” reveals the secrets of ancient surgery first written about by Hippocrates from Thracian Greece in the 5th century BC .
Professor Anagnostis Agelarakis of Adelphi University in New York discovered the jawbone of a Byzantine warrior in 1991 at the archaeological site of Fort Polystylon in West Thrace, Greece.
In a 2017 article published in the journal Byzantina Symmeikta, the professor explained that in the early 1380s, the inhabitants of Polystylon opposed the Ottoman Turks who had invaded their ancestral lands.
It is believed that the “wounded” warrior was beheaded after the capture of his fortress by the Ottomans.
Now, in a new study by Agelarakis, published in the September issue of Mediterranean Archeology and Archaeometry, the professor describes that the man’s jaw was ” pierced with gold wire to help it heal .”
This complex and dangerous ancient surgical technique was developed in Greece in the 5th century BC and reveals the medical techniques that were available to the brave Greek warrior with a broken jaw long before he was beheaded.
After decades of speculation, a new study has determined that the inhabitants of the 13th-century Thracian polystylon fort fiercely resisted the invading Ottoman forces.
A new analysis of the decapitated warrior confirms that a fierce confrontation took place.
Agelarakis first detailed the burial in his 2017 article, in which he said that the warrior “was not given his own grave, but was placed in a pre-existing grave of a 5-year-old child in the center of the cemetery.”
While this is considered highly probable, it is currently unknown if the warrior and the child were related.
Professor Agelarakis writes that after the warrior’s head was cut off from the torso, “an unknown person probably took the head and furtively buried it .”
Given that the rest of the body was not found, the warrior’s head “probably was reburied without the permission of the enslavers.”
Also, because the skullcap and jaw were found together, it is believed that the man’s head “probably had soft tissue when it was buried in the mid-1380s ,” Agelarakis said.
The new article states that the warrior died between the ages of 35 and 40 . Ten years before his death, around AD 1373, he suffered a “destructive fracture of his jaw”.
The cause of the injury is unclear, but the author suggests several possibilities, such as: “a violent fall while riding; combat injury from the piercing tip of a spear or other sharp hand weapon; or a ballistic projectile .”
Professor Agelarakis called the discovery of the healed jaw of a nearly 650-year-old warrior ” a perfect example of the precision of an ancient medical professional .”
The warrior’s lower teeth were found to have a line of tartar (hardened plaque) that accumulated around a thin gold wire that was threaded around the base of the man’s teeth to help heal the jaw.
Just think about it – six hundred and fifty years ago, someone successfully connected the two main fragments of a broken jaw with gold wire. “It’s very difficult – it’s overwhelming,” says the professor.
What’s more, the 13th-century Greek physician who performed the ancient operation followed closely the medical advice laid down by Hippocrates , the 5th -century BC Greek physician who famously became the “father” of Western medicine and its moral code.
Tartar analysis showed no evidence of the use of silver, copper, or bronze wire, leaving only gold thread . This is exactly what Hippocrates prescribed in the 5th century BC for the treatment of fractures of the facial bones.
This person must have been “a very important person.” After all, after such a complex operation, he needed complex care. Professor Agelarakis states that the man may have been ” the fort’s warlord “.
When those dark days arrived in the 13th century when Ottoman troops darkened the horizon, a warrior fought to save his family and the fort.
Then, when the Ottomans finally captured the fort, this warrior was beheaded, and someone close to him grabbed his head and later buried it in the center of the fort with an unidentified 5-year-old child.
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