摘要：AMPUTATION is practiced by many primitive peoples, and some archaeologists think it has been in use at least since neolithic times. Neolithic knives and saws of stone and bone have been found, and the presence of what look like amputated bone stumps in skeletons of the period suggests that this may have been one of their many uses. Hollinderl has shown the possibility by performing amputations in six or seven minutes with these primitive instruments. Moodie2 describes an ancient Peruvian pottery figure as showing a leg amputated at the tibiotarsal junction, and holding in the right hand a cap of painted bone (or wood or metal) to be adjusted to the stump of the leg (Fig. 1) . The murals at La Tene and elsewhere show many hands with amputated fingers. But even if the evidence for prehistoric amputations were more extensive and conclusive than it is, it would still not be certain that these amputations had a surgical intent; there were probably motives of magic, ritual sacrifice, riddance from demoniacal possession, appeasement of the gods, punishment, or beautification.
