What sort of complex surgeries, if any, were being performed in ancient Africa?

by artismyhustle

I was just idling away on tumblr and someone posted this:

Reminder that in Africa people were performing successful cesarean sections and brain surgeries as early as 3,000 b.c.e while whites didn’t even think to wash they asses until hundreds of years later but Africa is always portrayed as some type of monolithic land of savages

(I don't know what else is on that tumblr so it could potentially be NSFW)

The sources (s)he cited are as follows:

1

2

3

4

I don't have the historical knowledge or training to know if these are legit or if there is any truth to the original claim, a claim which is very popular given that it has nearly 100,000 reblogs, which are sort of analogous to upvotes on reddit, for those who do not know.

I don't have any ulterior motive here. I do rather resent that Africa is largely seen as a homogeneous a disease ridden, poverty stricken and war torn country, but I find the idea that brain surgeries of any effectiveness were taking place in ancient Africa to be suspect.

Gargatua13013

Don't know as to C-secs, but trepanation has very ancient african roots pre-dating Egypt source 1, source 2, although it was prevalent throughout the ancient world as well. It is however debatable that this could be equated to "complex brain surgery", as it stops short of intervening in the brain. However, the fact that any such surgery could overcome the very real risks of sepsis and be effective in relieving symptoms of brain swelling based on a purely empirical approach is no small achievement.