A scientific analysis of cranial trepanation from an Early Iron Age cemetery on the ancient Silk Road in Xinjiang, China

A new case of prehistoric trepanation and scalping in the Iberian Peninsula: The tomb of La Saga (Cáseda, Navarre)

“…It seems that a lithic instrument was used to remove the skin by scraping, so the imperfections of the edge have created linear marks. It is common to document scalping marks in the temporal, parietal and frontal areas in subjects who have been trepanned and have not survived the intervention (Campillo, 2007, 2011; Zhang et al, 2018), because the cranial vault is the part that is in most direct contact with the skin. The morphology of the cut marks on the right temporal and parietal bones suggests that the removal of the scalp was performed in the left half of the skull, starting from the back of the left parietal, next to the lambdoid suture, where the cuts are more numerous and elongated.…”

Trepanation during the late Neolithic Age from the Mapai cemetery in the Gan‐Qing region, northwestern China—A bioarcheological and experimental study

“…Trepanation has been found in archaeological sites throughout the Old and New Worlds, and the purposes of trepanation are believed to be spiritual, symbolic, or therapeutical (Arnott et al, 2003; Campillo, 1984; Faria, 2015; Gross, 2009; Li et al, 2022; Zhang et al, 2018). In China, over 30 sites have yielded evidence of cranial trepanation (Han, 2005, 2009; Han et al, 1999; Liu, 1999; Pan, 1990; Ye, 2012; Zhang et al, 2018) to the Yellow River Basin (Han et al, 2007; Han & He, 2002; Zhou et al, 2020). Except some sites in eastern and northeastern China, most sites are clustered in two regions, Xinjiang and (Gan‐Qing) region (Figure 1).…”

“…In the Gan‐Qing region, nearly 20 skeletons with signs of trepanation have been found in nine locations within the Gan‐Qing region alone, dated from the late Neolithic to the late Bronze Age, about 4000 to 2500 years BP (Han, 1990; Han et al, 2007; Hong, 2014; Jenna et al, 2019; Liang, 2013; Pan & Han, 1984; Pu & Pang, 1990; Zhang et al, 2018) (Table 1). Among them, there are two trepanation skulls of the pre‐Qiang people from the Mapai (马牌) cemetery.…”

“…Drilling was a widespread technique among these methods in prehistory and was commonly found in the Roman period using different instruments as well (Erdal & Erdal, 2011). Previously, Zhang et al (2018) have tried to identify trepanation tools used for grooving among iron tools found from grave goods, whereas Zhou et al (2020) have experimented drilling on a domestic pig skull using a sharp tool similar to stone tools from burials. In our experiments, a tool assemblage was designed and used for drilling based on the hypothesis that a group of tools rather than a single tool were used to successfully generate holes while not damaging intracranial structures.…”

Susceptibility to Neurodegenerative Disorders: Insights from Paleogenomic Data

“…Trepanation is apparently the oldest practiced surgical intervention in antiquity for the treatment of cranial trauma, neurological diseases, and tumors or for religious reasons, such as to ward off evil spirits that caused mental illness, epilepsy, or migraine symptoms. Evidence has been found that successful trepanations had been performed in the Neolithic Age in Anatolia (Erdal 2010); in Early Iron Age cemeteries on the Silk Road in Xinjiang, China (Zhang et al 2018); in Ancient Egypt (Collado-Vázquez and Carrillo 2014); and in the pre-Columbian Inca Empire in South America and other regions of the world (Kushner et al 2018). Data on the emergence and evolution of mutations associated with neurodegenerative diseases from ancient DNA samples are currently scarce (Simonti et al 2016).…”