You haven’t had a really odd column in a while–how about an overview of trepanning? Who are some of the people availing themselves of this “earliest known surgery” and why are they allowed to run around loose (if in fact they are)? KIDS, DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! –hraka
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Archaeological evidence of trepanning has turned up all over the world, in the form of skulls with holes up to two inches in diameter bored into them. Amazingly, say researchers, judging from signs of bone growth and the like, perhaps two-thirds of the patients survived. Maybe ancient trepannists were trying to relieve intracranial pressure due to disease, trauma, etc, in the manner of modern surgeons. Or maybe they just wanted to release the evil spirits. Nobody really knows.
There are those who say trepanation has much to offer the modern world. You’re saying: Come on, these people are psychos. I’m not arguing with you. However, being a psycho can take you a long way these days. Searching for trepanation in Google we come up with 6,120 hits. There’s even a Web site sponsored by the International Trepanation Advocacy Group. OK, there’s a Web site for everything. But skull boring has also been featured on network television, written up in the Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/trepan.htm) and the on-line journal Salon (www.salon.com/health/feature/1999/04/29/trepanation/print.html), even solemnly discussed at academic conferences (“International Colloquium on Cranial Trepanation in Human History,” University of Birmingham, April 7-9, 2000). Perhaps I’m overstating the case here, but if you ask me, trepanation is hot.
