Edwin Smith Papyrus

The Edwin Smith Papyrus, believed to be the world’s oldest known extant surgical document, 16t-17 Dynasties, Second Intermediate Period, ca. 1600 BC.



Written in hieratic script in ancient Egypt, the text describes anatomical observations and the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of 48 types of medical problems in exquisite detail. Plate 6 and 7 of the papyrus, pictured here, discuss facial trauma. New York Academy of Medicine.

