A Peruvian elongated skull with a metal plate surgically implanted, estimated to be from about 2000 years ago. The broken bone surrounding the repair is tightly fused together indicating it was a successful surgery.
An elongated, cone-shaped skull with a possible metal implant could represent some of the earliest evidence from Peru of an ancient surgical implant. Or it could be a modern-day fake.
The fact that the skull, which was donated to the Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City, has a cone shape is nothing too unusual, as Peruvians during ancient times were known to squeeze children’s heads with bands during development to achieve the distinctive shape.
However, the metal implant in this skull is highly unusual and, if authentic, would potentially be a unique find from the ancient Andean world.