A commoner with advanced surgery: A bioarcheological study of a trepanation case with special reference to the medical care system during the Western Zhou Dynasty of China (1045 – 771 BCE)

Abstract

Therapeutic craniotomy is a kind of artificial trepanation used for treating head injuries. In this study, a skull with signs of trauma and trepanation from a young adult female who lived 3000 years ago was analyzed in the context of medical care systems during the time. In the Western Zhou Dynasty (1045–771 BCE), a policy of benevolence and a healthcare system for commoners was practiced. In the skull, there were signs of blunt force trauma on the left temporal bone that induced a depression fracture and possibly an intracranial hematoma. It is believed that an artificial craniotomy was applied as a post-trauma procedure; the trepanation was a therapeutic method to treat the head injury. Signs of healing at the fracture area and the trepanation site suggest that the patient survived both the assault and the craniotomy. This successful case of advanced neurosurgery goes beyond confirming the antiquity of artificial craniotomy as a therapeutic procedure for head injuries. It also provides bioarcheological evidence of medical systems within ancient China; this study corroborates with written records of institutional efforts to have assigned medical resources for common citizens during the Zhou Dynasty of China.