by Dierdre Crane
Trepanation is a method of brain surgery whose origins can be
traced to the Late Stone Age. Some remote societies still
practice it today, and in some tribal cultures of East Africa it
has survived as an integral part of traditional medicine. Doctors
employed this invasive procedure to relieve distress caused by a
variety of disturbances, including skull fractures, parasites,
pressure, hydrocephaly, incurable headaches, and even evil
spirits. Intricate and refined instruments aided prehistoric
surgeons in the different methods of penetrating the skull, and
sometimes in actually removing tissue from the brain.