Without surgery and advanced medicine in the 21st century, many lives would be lost to preventable medical problems and infectious diseases. If you asked every person who walked down the street for an hour, most would say they had one surgery in their life. Surgery has evolved since prehistoric medicine. Regarding surgery before the Common Era, research has turned to sources such as skeletons, cave paintings or artifacts (Dobanovacki, et al 28). Trepanation is the oldest known surgery. It was used to clear the minds of individuals suffering from epilepsy, mental illness and headaches (Dobanovacki, et al 28). Circumcision and the use of ants to suture wounds were also known surgical practices before our era (Dobanovacki, et al 29). Surgery varied greatly between civilizations. Different practices were passed on to the next civilization. In the article "Surgery before the Common Era", these practices are explained in detail on how they evolved and where they originated if the place of origin is different from the civilization in question. Reading the abstract of the article, the authors first detail how the study of medicine took place, which is directly related to the evolution of surgery. Based on the examination of skeletons, cave paintings and mummies, the study of prehistoric medicine reveals that surgical experience dated skull trephination, male circumcision and the healing of war wounds. In prehistoric tribes, medicine was a mixture of magic, medicinal plants and superstitious beliefs practiced by sorcerers. (Dobanovacki, et al 28). Surgery dates back to the first clay table record ...... middle of paper ...... in which the relationship was studied in more detail. Mesopotamian surgery had correlations with Greek medicine; however, there is no direct connection between the two. Greek surgery was mainly influenced by Egyptian surgery. The Greeks made many medical advances. Eventually, the Greeks were overthrown by the Romans, who took many Greek doctors and scholars and made them their own. The Romans had a very significant impact on surgery in today's medical world. As an example, some of the scalpels used back then were similar in form and function to those of today. Dobanovacki's article "Surgery before the Common Era" had an informative basis on the evolution of surgery in BCE, which demonstrated the different impacts of war and the overtaking of civilizations on the continued development of medical practices, which even impact surgical procedures today..