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Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of what may be the world’s first surgery: a Viking-age human skull with a portion removed.

The remains, belonging to a man between 17 and 24 years old, feature an oval hole roughly 3 centimeters in diameter. Experts believe the man lived during the ninth century, according to reporting by SWNS.

The man likely underwent trepanation, an ancient surgical procedure where a hole is bored into a living person’s skull to treat conditions like migraines or seizures. 

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University of Cambridge students discovered the remains last year during a training dig at the Wandlebury Iron Age hill fort.

The discovery is notable not just for the surgery, but for the man’s physical stature. Standing 6 feet, 5 inches tall, he towered over the average male of the era, who typically stood 5 feet, 6 inches, per SWNS.

“The individual may have had a tumor that affected their pituitary gland and caused an excess of growth hormones,” said Dr. Trish Biers, curator of the Duckworth Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, in the report.

“We can see this in the unique characteristics in the long shafts of their limb bones and elsewhere on the skeleton.”

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Biers noted that such a condition would have increased intracranial pressure and caused severe headaches. The trepanation was likely an attempt to alleviate that pain, a goal that is “not uncommon with head trauma today.”

A puzzling burial site

The burial site itself presented a grim mystery. The mass grave contained a mix of complete and dismembered bodies, including a cluster of skulls and what researchers described as a “stack of legs.”

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Four complete skeletons were unearthed, some in positions suggesting that they had been tied up. 

Most appeared to be young men thrown into the pit without care, leading archaeologists to suspect that the site marks the aftermath of a skirmish, battle or mass execution.

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“Those buried could have been recipients of corporal punishment, and that may be connected to Wandlebury as a sacred or well-known meeting place,” Oscar Aldred of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit told SWNS.

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“It may be that some of the disarticulated body parts had previously been displayed as trophies and were then gathered up and interred with the executed or otherwise slaughtered individuals.”

South Carolina health officials are warning of “irreversible” neurological damage in children as measles-related hospitalizations climb in the state.

Of the 876 confirmed cases in the state’s upstate outbreak, at least 19 patients have been admitted with serious complications.

“Some of these complications include measles encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, in children and pneumonia,” state epidemiologist Linda Bell said in a Feb. 4 briefing.

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Bell emphasized that the complication is particularly dangerous for young patients.

“Any time you have inflammation of the brain … there can be long-term consequences, things like developmental delays and impacts on the neurologic system that can be irreversible,” the expert warned.

While the state does not systematically track every medical complication, pneumonia is the leading cause of measles-related death among young children, affecting approximately one in every 20 infected minors, according to CDC data.

A total of 147 students are quarantined across 10 K-12 schools, Bell noted.

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The outbreak also poses a risk to expectant mothers. Because the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine cannot be administered during pregnancy, several exposed women recently required emergency treatment with immune globulin to provide “passive immunity.”

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Bell noted that this is critical to “protect them against the high risk of complications during pregnancy and to protect their newborn babies.”

The measles virus is notoriously contagious, capable of lingering in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left a room, experts say.

South Carolina saw a historic surge in vaccinations in January. In particular, Spartanburg County saw a 162% increase in MMR vaccinations compared to the previous year.

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“I’m hoping that what we can attribute [the vaccine surge] to is a wider recognition of the threat of this disease circulating in our communities and the desire for people to be protected against the complications,” Bell said in the briefing.

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Health officials continue to urge the public to seek vaccinations, especially as a new case in the Pee Dee region suggests the virus may be spreading beyond the initial upstate clusters through “unrecognized community transmission.”

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As far as the encephalitis and pneumonia fears, “these are complications we hope to prevent,” Bell added.

“Increasing vaccination coverage protects those who cannot be vaccinated, like young infants, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.”