A Trepanned Human Skull Discovered in the Necropolis of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Iași, Romania (15th–19th Centuries)

Abstract

The study is focused on a case of trepanation, identified in a sample of skeletons discovered at the “Adormirea Maicii Domnului” Roman Catholic Cathedral from Iași (Romania). The sample of 89 skeletons (children, adolescents, adults and elders) originates from inhumation tombs and reburials, dating from the 15th–19th centuries. Trepanation has been practiced in many past cultures, dating as far back as the Late Paleolithic to this century, and it has been detected in widespread locations in every part of the world. Being an extremely aggressive intervention on the human body, the trepanation (called craniotomy, in medical terms) was made with various purposes: medical (surgical, therapeutic, curative), symbolic or magical-religious. In this case, trepanation was identified in the skull of an adult mature male, on the occipital bone near the left mastoid. Craniotomy was evaluated by macroscopic observation, followed by stereomicroscopy, radiology, and computed tomography. Skull opening is roughly circular, and it was probably made by the scraping method, with a flat implement used with a rotary movement on the bone surface, which was thus eroded to the formation of a complete hole. The trepanation hole has been left open for a long period of time. In the skeleton with trepanation, no other pathologies were identified.

Keywords

• human skeleton
• trepanation
• imaging analysis
• 15th–19th centuries
• iași (romania)