Neolithic man may have tried surgery on cows

EARLY man may have practised surgery on cows, it has been claimed, after evidence was discovered of experimentation on animals.

A cow’s skull, which dates back more than 3,000 years, was dug up in France, and was found to have an almost square hole in it – believed to have been caused by a surgical “tool”.

It is suspected prehistoric cavemen were practising a form of surgery called “trepanation” – before trying it out on tribe members. The procedure is known to have been carried out thousands of years ago to relieve pain caused by a head trauma or neurological disease.

It could alternatively be evidence of the first known veterinary operation.

The cow’s skull is up to 3,400 years old and was unearthed at a Neolithic site in the Pays de la Loire region of western France. A variety of animal bones, pottery, stones and flint tools have been discovered since 1971. It was mainly thought to be a meeting place, graveyard and market.