Ammon News - 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.

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."

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."

Fox News