Physical evidence recovered from a 14th-century AD tomb in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province, China, has for the first time confirmed that Chinese surgeons were compounding plant-based anaesthetics centuries before the procedure entered Western medicine. The findings, published on Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Antiquity, challenge the long-standing narrative that modern anaesthesia began on October 16, 1846, when American dentist William T.G. Morton demonstrated inhaled ether at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The tomb and who it belonged to

The burial site belongs to Xia Quan, a celebrated practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine during the Ming dynasty. Jiangyin sits in China's eastern Jiangsu province, and the tomb's contents provided the first material — rather than purely textual — proof that anaesthetic compounds were being actively prepared and used in surgical contexts in medieval China. Prior to this discovery, the practice had been documented only in ancient Chinese manuscripts, leaving historians without corroborating physical artefacts.

Why it matters

The standard Western account credits Morton's 1846 Boston demonstration as the watershed moment in surgical anaesthesia. This new evidence pushes confirmed anaesthetic use back by roughly five centuries, fundamentally repositioning the contribution of Chinese medical tradition to global surgical history. Researchers associated with the study, which was published by Cambridge University Press, noted that ancient Chinese texts had long referenced a preparation known as Mafeisan — a herbal anaesthetic formula historically attributed to the legendary Han dynasty surgeon Hua Tuo, who reportedly used it on the warlord Cao Cao.

The competitive historical backdrop

The debate over anaesthesia's origins is not merely academic. For decades, Western medical historiography has treated the Massachusetts General Hospital demonstration as the definitive starting point, marginalising earlier non-Western practices as anecdotal or unverified. Researchers at Northwestern University were among those contributing to the broader scholarly framework cited in the study, according to reports. The Jiangyin tomb evidence now gives that marginalised tradition a verifiable archaeological anchor.

What the evidence shows

The paper in Antiquity details how residues or artefacts from the tomb of Xia Quan confirm the physical preparation of plant-derived anaesthetic substances. The study's lead author is listed as Zhao Conggang. While the precise botanical compounds have not been detailed in available summaries, the research team's findings were sufficient to satisfy the peer-review standards of one of archaeology's most rigorous journals.

What's next

The publication is expected to prompt a reassessment of surgical history curricula and museum narratives worldwide. Archaeologists and historians of medicine will likely focus next on identifying additional Ming-dynasty or earlier sites that could further corroborate the timeline. The broader implication is a more pluralistic account of how humanity arrived at safe, pain-free surgery — one in which China's contribution is no longer a footnote.