--The Far Side of the World 

The International Museum of Surgical Science

Training head - this wooden head was used to practice trephining (drilling into the skull - there is evidence at the back). The scuffs suggest that it may even have been used as a football too! Early 19th cent

A Neolithic skull (3200-2001BC) showing clear signs of trepanation, or trephination. This a procedure which involves drilling holes into the skull using some form of surgical instrument. Throughout previous eras of human civilisation, it was believed that trepanning could be used as treatment to cure a variety of illnesses, many of which were supposedly caused by malevolent spirits that were trapped inside the head and needed to escape. In the above photo, it can be seen that the holes had begun to heal following the surgery, therefore indicating that the patient had survived and began to recover before they died.

Human skull illustrating different methods of trephination owned by Dr. T. Wilson Parry, skull of Guanche, Canary Islands, 1871-1930 

The illustration shows the Trepanning process performed on a mentally ill patient.