Although scientists are still unsure how the brain works, one thing's for sure: since the cromagnon days of man, mentally ill people have benefited from a good trepanation. For some reason, a crude ...

Cranial surgery is tricky business, even under 21st-century conditions (think aseptic environment, specialized surgical instruments and copious amounts of pain medication both during and afterward).

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The woman's skull shows clear traces of a large cross-shaped incision in the top, with a partially-healed oval of bone at the ...

Scientists analyzed the skull of a medieval woman who once lived in central Italy and found evidence that she experienced at least two brain surgeries consistent with the practice of trepanation, ...

Even with a highly skilled neurosurgeon, the most effective anesthesia, and all the other advances of modern medicine, most of us would cringe at the thought of undergoing cranial surgery today. After ...

Archaeologists in Poland have discovered a rare iron tool that the Celts used to perform cranial surgery 2,300 years ago. The hand-held artifact was found at Łysa Góra, a Celtic site in the Mazovia ...

Two skulls with perforations have been exhumed in the area of Gormaz in Soria, Spain. They have been dated from the 13th and 14th centuries -- a period in which trepanation was not commonly practiced.

You might think you need an extra hole in your head like… well, a hole in your head. But trepanation has been hailed as the “oldest surgery.” Medical professionals have long since abandoned the ...

If you’re going to get a hole drilled into your skull, you don’t want to use just any tool. (Though most of us would avoid the skull-drilling in the first place.) One researcher used four different ...

The word trepanation refers to the old surgical practice of making a hole in someone's head to relive pressure. No, Trepanation Art Gallery doesn't feature that as one of its services, but the 3-month ...

Trepanation is a procedure which was done throughout human history. It involves removing a section of the skull and was often done on animals and humans. The first recorded proof of this was done on a ...

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Trepanation, or the technique of removing bone ...