Trepanning in archaeological societies and insights into ancient medical beliefs

Trepanning in archeological and historical societies and what these surgeries tell us about the biological/medical beliefs of the people who did them

Trepanning is the procedure to create the whole in the skull of a human being. This procedure has had long historical background. Trepanning is performed not only for the medical purpose but archeological evidences also reflect the fact that it was also used as the capital punishment and for other religious issues.

Different scholars have different opinions about this particular procedure: trepanning. Some medical experts believe that the skulls which were trepanned when examined in the laboratory have shown the signs of recovery after the occurrence of the procedure. However still other specialists suggest that the harmful aspects of trepanning are more in comparison to the benefits of trepanning. Medical doctors suggest that opening the skull and operating the human brain will certainly cause some damage to the nervous system of an individual. But in case of emergency, the procedure can be used as a last resort option to save the precious life. The damages of the procedure can be minimized if it is performed by a qualified surgeon with sterilized equipment. The paper will discuss trepanning in detail to enhance the understanding of the reader.

Trepanning in archeological and historical societies and what these surgeries tell us about the biological/medical beliefs of the people who did them

Trepanning is the surgical procedure in which drilling is performed in order to create a whole in the skull of the human. This procedure is commonly used by the doctors and people belonging from the medical profession in order to treat various diseases related to the brain. Trephine is an instrument which has been used for this process (Vess, 1974). Historical evidences also suggest that this procedure has also been used as a tool to give the capital punishment to the criminals in the past. Regardless of the purpose of this procedure; historians and anthropologist believe that it is a procedure which was used by surgical experts of the olden times (Barnhart, 2005). The evidence of trepanning can be found from the era of Neolithic times. It has been researched by many anthropologists that people of Neolithic times use the procedure as a cure from the diseases like migraines and mental disorders (Cleven, 1927). The trepanned bone was often kept by the family of the patient because they were of the opinion that the trepanned bone helps the patient to protect him from the evil spirits (Silverberg, 1966). It was also used as an emergency surgical operation for the patients who have the head injury. The procedure is considered to be one of the oldest surgical procedures which have some forensic evidences (Brown et.al, 2003). There are many cultures and historical groups in which the trepanning procedure can overwhelmingly be observed. Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and pre-modern Europe are considered to be the societies where the users of trepanning were huge in number (Johnson, 1999). By observing the physical remains of the pre-Columbian people and the art of work of that society, it can be observed that scientists have found many skulls which have the holes made through the procedure of trepanning (Malott, 2007). As far as the new world is concerned, Andean society is the latest one where we can see the procedures performed by the people of those society. Most of the surgeries performed have highlighted the fact that the emergency cases are related to the disorder of the brain (Shefer, 1991).