Ancient Egyptian Surgical Tools
source: Wikimedia Commons
author: unknown
Description
A black and white photograph shows an assortment of seven ancient surgical tools. There are four varieties of primitive scalpels and knives, two pairs of primitive forceps or tongs, and one small rod akin to a long, thick needle.
Date
Artifact: unknown
Photo: unknown*
Information
This photograph shows an array of ancient Egyptian medical tools that may have been used for surgical and/or mummification procedures. The rod to the top right would have been used to liquify to brain of the deceased, allowing it to be drained through the nasal passage. The large stone knife to the top leftwould have been used to cut open the side of the corpse for removal of organs.
*The online source for this image (http://puffin.creighton.edu/museums/greiner/surgery_02.htm) failed to provide the original source. The image was included among several other public domain images and has been marked on Wikimedia Commons as belonging to the public domain.
Related Articles
Nunn, J. F. (2002). Ancient Egyptian medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Halioua, B., & Ziskind, B. (2005). Medicine in the days of the pharaohs. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Allen, J. P. (2005). The art of medicine in ancient Egypt. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.