Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (1) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.1.133-143

Annotation:  Personal Ornament Production Technology in the Early Holocene Complexes of Western Central Asia: Ins Hadjoh-2: A Middle Paleolithic Workshop-Camp in Northwestern Caucasus The Late Chalcolithic Ceramics of the Volga Forest-Steppe On the Origin of Natural Bitumen at Yasnoye-8 (Sakhalin Island) Inskoy Dol: A New Early Bronze Age Site in Western Altai Decorated Birch-Bark Artifacts from the Ust-Polui Sanctuary (100 BC to 100 AD) An Old Turkic Statue from Borili, Ulytau Hills, Central Kazakhstan: Issues in Interpretation On Ancient Agriculture in Arid Regions of Central Asia: The Case of the Uvs Nuur Basin Geophysical Studies at the Kushmanskoye (Uchkakar) Fortifi ed Settlement, Kama Basin Pit-Grave (Yamnaya) and Pit-Grave-Maikop Burials at Levoyegorlyksky-3, Stavropol A Periodization of the Timber-Grave Culture in the Western Orenburg Region: Archaeological and Natur The Russian Pioneers’ Winter Camp on Karachinsky Island, the Lower Tobol River, Western Siberia An Experimental Assessment of the Cause of Mummification in the Joseon Period Burials, Republic of K Celestial Bodies on the Ob Ugrian Ritual Artifacts (Based on Archaeological and Ethnographic Sources Craniotomy as a Prehistoric Medical Practice: A Case of Antemortem Cranial Trepanation in Southern Secular and Age-Related Dynamics of Biological Characteristics in the Rural Population of Mongolia:   

Craniotomy as a Prehistoric Medical Practice:
A Case of Antemortem Cranial Trepanation in Southern Siberia
in the Late Bronze Age

T.A. Chikisheva¹, A.L. Krivoshapkin², D.V. Pozdnyakov¹, and P.V. Volkov^{1, 3}

¹Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Novosibirsk State Medical University, Krasny pr. 52, Novosibirsk, 630091, Russia

³Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

Complete trepanation with the removal of the inner bone plate was studied on a cranium of a male aged ca 35, from a Late Bronze Age burial at Anzhevka, in the Krasnoyarsk-Kansk forest-steppe, dating to 1000–700 BC. Certain burials, including that with a trephined cranium, reveal traces of post-funerary rituals. The individual displays the Paleosiberian (Baikal) combination of craniometric and dental characteristics. The results of the macro- and microscopic analysis of the affected area, along with multislice computed tomography (MSCT), suggest that the trepanation was performed to treat osteomyelitis of the parietal bone with an epidural abscess (empyema), caused by an open depressed fracture of the left parietal bone, infl icted by a tool with a small contact area. In modern forensic practice, such perforations are attributed to hammer blows. This would explain the absence of linear fractures of the parietal bone around the zone of trepanation. Craniotomy with the removal of the osteomyelitiс focus and the emptying of the epidural abscess led to a prolonged preservation of the patient’s life. The results of a traceological analysis suggest that the aperture was made by scraping, and a thin tetrahedral tool was used to remove the bone fragment. Possibly the use of bronze instruments, known to have antiseptic properties, helped the ancient healer to cope with an advanced infectious process.

Keywords: Late Bronze Age, trepanation, multislice computed tomography, epidural abscess