An example of successful brain surgery from 400 BCE Peru
Did you know that the Inca people were masters of brain surgery? There was a surgical procedure called trepanation, which involved removing a piece of the patient’s skull in order to relieve pressure on the brain in case of injury. Inca surgeons refined and standardized their techniques to perfection. This skull serves as an illustration of their skills.
It dates back to 2,000 BCE and has a 1-mm-thick gold plate embedded that has been fused with the bone. This means that the patient survived long enough for them to heal. The hole was made by scraping the skull slowly to avoid brain injuries. It is amazing that such an ancient civilization refined such a complex surgical procedure to this degree.