![]() ![]() Green said he once helped documentary makers produce a program on surgical technology in ancient Egyptian, setting up a blind test on the cutting power of obsidian. Obsidian, meanwhile, cleaves into a fine and continuous edge when properly cut. ![]() He explained that steel scalpels at a microscopic level have a rough cutting edge that tears into tissue, a function of the crystals that make up the metal. "It makes for the best cosmetic outcome." "The biggest advantage with obsidian is that it is the sharpest edge there is, it causes very little trauma to tissue, it heals faster, and more importantly, it heals with less scarring," he said. Lee Green, professor and chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta, says he routinely uses obsidian blades. When you consider that most household razor blades are 300 to 600 angstroms, obsidian can still cut it with the sharpest materials nanotechnology can produce.Įven today, a small number of surgeons are using an ancient technology to carry out fine incisions that they say heal with minimal scarring.ĭr. Obsidian - a type of volcanic glass - can produce cutting edges many times finer than even the best steel scalpels.Īt 30 angstroms - a unit of measurement equal to one hundred millionth of a centimeter - an obsidian scalpel can rival diamond in the fineness of its edge. It could even have been a form of emergency surgery for battle wounds.īut while there is still conjecture about the real reasons behind the mysterious procedure, what is known is that the implement often used to carry out the primitive surgery was made from one of the sharpest substances found in nature: obsidian. In Neolithic times, trepanation - or drilling a hole into the skull - was thought to be a cure for everything from epilepsy to migraines. Статьи на английском → How Stone Age blades are still cutting it in modern surgeryĮver had a headache so big, you felt like drilling a hole in your head to let the pain out? ![]()
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