Trepanation

Trepanning, also known as trephination, trephining or making a burr hole, is a medical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases. It may also refer to any "burr" hole created through other body surfaces, including nail beds. It is often used to relieve pressure beneath a surface. A trephine is an instrument used for cutting out a round piece of skull bone.

In pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, evidence for the practice of trepanation and an assortment of other cranial deformation techniques comes from a variety of sources, including physical cranial remains of pre-Columbian burials, allusions in iconographic artworks and reports from the post-colonial period.

Among New World societies, trepanation is most commonly found in the Andean civilizations such as the pre-Incan culture Paracas situated in what now is Ica located South of Lima. The Inca trepanation is frequently associated with pre-existing cranial damage, indicating that it had a use as a reasonably-successful medical procedure— by one estimate, more than 70% of the patients survived the operation. Recently, anthropologists have discovered evidence which suggests that survival rates may have been as high as 80 to 90 percent. Source: Wikipedia, Trepanation in Meso America.
See also: Inca Skull Surgeons Were "Highly Skilled," Study Finds
 

Video description

Ancient Peruvians carried out BRAIN SURGERY: 1,000-year-old skulls reveal trepanning.
 

Interactive Satellite Map

Explore Paracas, Ica, Peru. Click a placemark. To Pan: click and drag or take advantage of the pan and zoom bars.