LONDON – A skull found buried in the banks of the river Thames belongs to a man who survived brain surgery almost 4,000 years ago.
   The skull is from a man 25 to 35 years old, who lived between 1750 to 1610 BC, according to radiocarbon dating measurements.
   It has a 45 mm by 30 mm hole made by a procedure known as trepanation, which involves removing a portion of skull bone. Bone regrowth around the hole proves the patient survived the surgery—conducted without modern conveniences such as anesthesia.
   "Trepanning is probably the oldest form of surgery we know," said Dr. Simon Mays (PhD), an English Heritage expert on human skeletal remains. "The trepanning on this skull would have been carried out with a scraping tool, probably a flint, using great care to avoid piercing the brain.
   "The skull shows there were people in Britain at the time with significant anatomical and surgical skills, ones not bettered in Europe until Classical Greek and Roman times more than 1,000 years later," Dr. Mays said.
   Trepanning occurred in most parts of the ancient world. About 40 trepanned skulls dating from the neolithic to post-medieval times have been found in Britain.
   It is difficult to determine why trepanning was carried out. Experts suggest it was sometimes done to alleviate cranial fractures. It might have been thought to relieve headaches, or to let "evil spirits" out of the brain.
   Neurosurgeons today perform a similar procedure to relieve extradural hematoma. Burr holes are drilled in the skull, linked with wire and a Gigli saw is used to create a movable flap in the bone.
   The skull was found during an archeological survey of the river, but how it ended up in the Thames is not known.
   "It may have been the subject of a ritual burial as the river seems to have become a focus of spiritual and ceremonial attention during the Bronze Age," said Jane Sidell, an English Heritage adviser in archeological science and based at the Institute of Archeology at University College London.
   "Several hundred skulls dating from prehistoric times, many of men aged between 25 and 35, without any accompanying skeletons have been recovered from the Thames."
   The skull will go on display at the Museum of London in October.

Source: www.medicalpost.com