Holes in the Head. Double cranial surgery on an individual from the Chalcolithic burial site of Camino del Molino (SE Spain)

Abstract

Objective: This article analyses new prehistoric evidence of trepanation from a collective burial site in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula.

Materials: The trepanned individual was documented in the Chalcolithic burial site of Camino del Molino, where 1348 individuals (30.7 % non-adults and 69.3 % adults) were deposited in two contiguous funerary phases, making it a reference site for the knowledge of Recent Prehistoric populations.

Methods: The individual has been sexed using traditional anthropological methods and ancient DNA. C14 dating has also been obtained. The lesion has been analysed macroscopically and microscopically using SEM.

Results: The skull under study belonged to an adult female deposited in the second burial phase (2566-2239 years cal BCE). It exhibits in the anterior region of the right temporal fossa two contiguous and partially overlapping holes that correspond to two trepanations performed using the scraping technique.

Conclusions: It is a double cranial trepanation with signs of bone remodelling suggesting survival from surgery. No pathological signs were identified potentially associated with the intervention.

Significance: This is the second case of surgical interventions in the geographical area of study and one of the few evidences of this practice in women during prehistoric times.

Limitations: So far only the articulated skeletons from this burial have been thoroughly analysed.

Suggestions for further research: Further intensive review of skull collection is advised to learn more about these surgical interventions in Copper Age and to go deeper into the causes that motivated their execution.

Keywords: Ancient Surgery; Complete trepanation; Healed trauma; Iberia; Prehistory; Taphonomy.