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A new study provides the earliest known evidence of amputation – the medical term for cutting off a part of a person’s body.
一项新的研究提供了已知最早的有关截肢的证据——截肢这个医学术语的意思是切除人体的一部分。
Around 31,000 years ago, a young adult had their left foot and part of their left leg removed in what is modern-day Indonesia, the study suggests.
研究表明，大约在3.1万年前，在如今的印度尼西亚，一名年轻人的左脚和左腿的一部分被切除。
Scientists say the amputation was performed when the person was a child — and that the individual went on to live for years.
科学家表示，这个人是在小时候被截肢的——这个人后来又活了好几年。
The ancient surgery suggests that humans were carrying out medical operations much earlier than scientists had thought.
这一古老的手术表明，人类进行医疗手术的时间比科学家认为的要早得多。
The findings are in a study, which was published in Nature.
这一研究结果发表在《自然》杂志上。
Tim Maloney of Griffith University in Australia was the study’s lead researcher.
澳大利亚格里菲斯大学的蒂姆·马洛尼是这项研究的首席研究员。
Maloney said that researchers were exploring a cave in Borneo, a rainforest area known for ancient rock art, when they came across the person’s burial.
马洛尼说，研究人员在婆罗洲（一个以古代岩石艺术闻名的热带雨林地区）的一个洞穴中探索时偶然发现了这个人的墓地。
Although much of the skeleton remained, it was missing its left foot and the lower part of its left leg, Maloney explained.
马洛尼解释说，虽然大部分骨架还在，但其左脚和左腿的下半部分却不见了。
After examining the remains, the researchers concluded the foot bones were not missing from the burial or lost in an accident.
在检查了遗骸后，研究人员得出结论，他的脚骨不是在埋葬时丢失的，也不是在事故中丢失的。
Instead, the bones had been carefully removed.
这些骨骼反而是被小心地切除了。
The remaining leg bone showed a clean cut that healed over, Maloney said.
马洛尼说，剩余的腿骨上有一道已经愈合的整齐的切口。
There were no signs of infection, which would be expected if the child had gotten its leg bitten off by a creature like a crocodile.
没有感染的迹象，这个孩子的腿如果是被诸如鳄鱼之类的生物咬断就会出现感染的迹象。
And there were also no signs of a crushing fracture, which would have been expected if the leg had been cut off in an accident.
也没有粉碎性骨折的迹象，这条腿如果是在事故中被压断的就会出现粉碎性骨折的迹象。
The evidence suggests that the ancient people knew enough about medicine to perform surgery without fatal blood loss or infection, the writers said.
作者表示，这些证据表明，古人对医学有足够的了解，可以在不造成致命失血或感染的情况下进行手术。
Researchers do not know what kind of tool was used to amputate the limb, or how infection was prevented.
研究人员不知道古人截肢时使用的是哪种工具，也不知道他们是如何防止感染的。
But, they believe that a sharp stone tool may have made the cut, and some of the plant life in the area could have been used for medical treatment.
但是，他们认为，（古人可能使用了）一种锋利的石器（进行了截肢手术从而）留下了这个切口，（并可能使用了）该地区的一些植物用于疗伤。
Scientists believe that the community cared for the child for years afterward.
科学家们认为，这个聚落在之后的几年里一直在照顾这个孩子。
Surviving as an amputee in a land with steep hills and thick forests would not have been easy, the study said.
该研究称，作为一名被截肢了的人，在一片山势陡峭、森林茂密的土地上生存并不容易。
The child appears to have lived for around six to nine more years after losing the limb, eventually dying from unknown causes as a young adult, researchers said.
研究人员表示，这个孩子在截肢后似乎又活了大约六到九年，最终在青壮年时因不明原因死亡。
This early surgery “rewrites the history of human medical knowledge and developments,” Maloney said at a press conference.
马洛尼在新闻发布会上说，这项早期手术“改写了人类医学知识和发展的历史”。
Before this find, the earliest example of amputation had been in a French farmer from 7,000 years ago.
在这一发现之前，最早的截肢病例发生在7000年前的一位法国农民身上。
The farmer had part of his forearm removed.
那位农民的前臂被切除了一部分。
Scientists had thought that medical methods developed around 10,000 years ago.
科学家曾认为，这种医学手段是在大约1万年前发展起来的。
At that time, more humans began living in agricultural societies, the study writers said.
该研究的作者表示，那时，更多的人开始生活在农业社会中。
But this study adds to growing evidence that humans started caring for each other’s health much earlier than scientists had thought, said Alecia Schrenk.
但阿莱克西亚·施伦克说，这项研究进一步证明了人类开始关心彼此健康的时间比科学家认为的要早得多。
She was not involved with the study.
她没有参与这项研究。
Schrenk is an anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
施伦克是内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校的人类学家。
“It had long been assumed healthcare is a newer invention,” Schrenk said in an email.
施伦克在一封电子邮件中说：“长期以来，人们一直认为医疗保健是一种较新的发明。”
“Research like this article demonstrates that prehistoric peoples were not just left to fend for themselves.”
“诸如这篇文章之类的研究表明，史前人类并不全是自谋生路。”
I’m John Russell.
约翰·拉塞尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
