Evidence of surgery found in early colonial settlement

In 17th-century Jamestown, surgeons learned their trade through trial and error.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Jan. 24, 2005.

The surgery wasn't a success, and the patient likely died. But the procedure 400 years ago is evidence of the earliest known surgery (and autopsy) in the English colonies in America.

Archaeologists announced last month that they had found a skull fragment in a 400-year-old trash pit at Jamestown, Va., the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Researchers said a surgeon tried to drill two holes in a man's skull with a trepan to relieve pressure on the brain. The procedure wasn't completed, probably because the patient died, and saw marks on the skull indicate that an autopsy was conducted later.

The skull fragment and medical objects discovered at the historic site validate documents indicating that surgeons, doctors and apothecaries were in Jamestown as early as 1607 to 1610.

"It adds to the historical context and the evolution of medicine and medical practice. Where we are today is a product of what came before," said Ashley H. McKeown, PhD, an assistant professor in the Anthropology Dept. at the University of Montana.

Surgeon Edward R. Laws, MD, president of the American College of Surgeons, agreed that the skull has a significant story to tell.

"It gives you a glimpse of surgery and medicine in colonial America that we didn't have before. I wish I could have been there watching," said Dr. Laws, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Virginia, who has visited Jamestown twice.

The section of skull, about 4 inches by 4¾ inches, was found in a bulwark trench from one corner of the James Fort site.