October 22nd, 2008
Trepanation
After reading Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials I’ve been interested in finding out more about trepanning, which is used in his books by the Tartars to increase consciousness by attracting the mysterious substance, Dust. According to Mo Costandi’s illustrated history of trepanation it is ‘the oldest form of neurosurgery’, involving ‘the removal of a piece of bone from the skull’ (a procedure which has been performed since the prehistoric age). The oldest skull specimen to date is over 7,000 years old and was found at a neolithic burial site of Ensisheim in France.
But my real interest is really in finding out why such a procedure was and still is used, what effects it has and how it is performed. As with everything in life there isn’t a simple answer to these questions, mostly there’s just speculation and superstitution. Some say that historically the procedure was used to treat brain behaviour resulting in headaches, epilepsy or undiagnosable mental disorders. Others say it was performed as ritual during spiritual gatherings to enhance consciousness or provide a passage for evil demons to escape, whilst others are adamant the procedure was used to treat depressed skull fractures.
Whatever the reason being generally trepanation has been performed by using a sharp object to make an incision deep enough to expose the skull in order to cut/scrap/saw or drill a hole through to the brain. I think the general idea is to increase the blood flow around the brain to augment activity by arousing particular senses. Nice idea, but all a bit gruesome for my liking. There are some interesting modern day examples though if you fancy reading more about the people who’ve had the pleasure: Peter Halvorson and excerpts from a ‘crazy’ man’s diary.
You might be interested in reading my interview with Heather Perry, who performed a self-trepanation, with Halvorson’s assistance, in 2000.












