Two Bronze Age skeletons (brothers) were found at Tel Megiddo in Israel. One showed evidence of trepanation. Credit: Kalisher et al., 2023/PLoS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 ...

Cranial trepanation—the drilling of a hole in the head—is perhaps the oldest known example of skull surgery and one that is still practiced today, albeit rarely.

Trepanation sounds gruesome, but before there was so much as a semblance of modern medicine, it was the only headache relief that many ancient peoples could think of.

Details of the trepanation of the individual’s head, and a graphic showing the surgery site. Graphic: Kalisher et al., 2023, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 For 3,500 years, a curious medical case has been ...

Using that metric, they examined various periods of Peruvian trepanation. Wade reports that over the course of 2,000 years, the Inca and their ancestors got progressively better at skull surgery.

There were several reasons for trepanation, but in this case, the procedures seem to have been attempts to remedy an illness, researchers reported in a new study.However, they couldn't determine ...

The researchers propose this was a trepanation, but their interpretation is disputed. (Image credit: Kalisher et al., 2023, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0) ...

Trepanation Kit, Worldwide, 2000 BCE . by Dierdre Crane. Trepanation is a method of brain surgery whose origins can be traced to the Late Stone Age. Some remote societies still practice it today, and ...

I n the long history of trepanation—removing a piece of the human skull—residents of the Andes were relative latecomers, likely beginning the practice around 400 BCE, based on archaeological data. But ...