History of the Tumi: A Symbol of ancient Peruvian Medicine adopted by the Peruvian College of physicians

The tumi (too-mee) is a ceremonial instrument resembling a knife with a rectangular or trapezoid handle used in ancient times in Peru. Now it is a symbol in the logo of the Peruvian College of Physicians. It was usually thought that the tumi was mainly used for performing cranial surgery, but possib...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Galán-Rodas, Edén, Laberiano Fernández, Caddie, Maguiña Vargas, Ciro
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:Perú
Institución:Colegio Médico del Perú
Repositorio:Acta Médica Peruana
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:amp.cmp.org.pe:article/1159
Acceso en línea:https://amp.cmp.org.pe/index.php/AMP/article/view/1159
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Tumi
cuchillo ceremonial
trepanaciones de cráneo
Perú
tumi
ceremonial knife
cranium trepanations
Peru
Descripción
Sumario:The tumi (too-mee) is a ceremonial instrument resembling a knife with a rectangular or trapezoid handle used in ancient times in Peru. Now it is a symbol in the logo of the Peruvian College of Physicians. It was usually thought that the tumi was mainly used for performing cranial surgery, but possibly its main use was for beheading war prisoners. We learned of its existence when a tumi was first found in Huaca Las Ventanas (an archeological site), located in Batan Grande, Poma community in Lambayeque, at the end of 1936 by Professor Julio C. Tello. The first tumi was dated somewhere between 700 to 1300 A.D.