About Skull Trepanation on the Territory of South Caucasus and Near East in the Early Bronze Age

The paper generalizes finds of trepanned skulls from the area of South Caucasus and Near East as well as characterizes types of craniotomy of the population of the studied region and Eurasia. The finds of skulls with traces of trepanation of the Early Bronze Age are not so numerous. Among archaeological sites, the following ones were identified as having skulls with the traces of craniotomy: Menteshtepe (Azerbaijan); Kiketi (Georgia); Baklatepe, Karatash, Kuchukhoyuk, Ikiztepe, Pagnik Oreni, (Turkey); Shahri Sohta (Iran); Tel-Arad (Israel); Tarkhan, Wadi Hebran (Egypt); Jebel Hafit (UAE). Prevailing among them are the trepanations performed for medical purposes during the studied time (Kiketi, Pagnik Oreni, Karatash, Ikiztepe, Shahri Sohta, Tel-Arad, Tarkhan, Wadi Hebran, Jebel Hafit). However, there were also cases of a ritual-symbolic character (Baklatepe, Kuchukhoyuk). In addition, there were also craniotomies, where it was not possible to establish exactly the origin of the manipulation, whether they were only of medical or ritual-symbolic purposes (Menteshtepe, Ikiztepe and Jebel Hafit). Most of the interventions ended successfully, which indicates the high professionalism of neurosurgeons of that time. In terms of gender, skulls with trepanations in males significantly outnumbered those in females. The indications for surgery were primarily head injuries. The largest number of cases of craniotomy was recorded in Anatolia. The dominant method of manipulation was by cutting; in addition, scraping method was also common.