Trepanation. The history of trephines and trepanation

The trephine, a medical tool used for making a hole in the human skull in order to relieve pressure, or to gain access to the human skull to carry out a procedure.

It is a medical tool steeped in history, going back a lot further than you might think.

The trepanation procedure is one of the oldest known medical procedures, dating back as far as 7- 10,000 years, maybe even more, and has always been an effective procedure ,with a very high success rate. It is still practised to this day with few differences, apart from the tools, environment and way in which it is carried out.

The Tools Used for Trepanation 

The earliest known tools were simple but very effective. Sharpened flint and obsidian flakes were used to scrape away the bone until a hole was created, while a shark's tooth inserted in a wooden rod and rotated with a bow would be used as a drill to create lots of holes in the desired shape before a segment was removed.

Later in the timeline the Romans and Greeks were the first to introduce actual tools for the procedure. However, these were just similar tools simply made out of different metals.

Over the years many other variations of these tools have been used until medicine took a huge leap around the late 1700’s with the advancement in medical instruments, leading to the trephines people now associate with the procedure.

It is a truly fascinating subject, well worth looking into