Trepanations in non-adults of the 16th to 18th C. The osteological series of the Church of the Assumption of Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real, Spain)

Objective

To investigate the presence of trepanations in an early Modern Age, skeletal collection documented in medical treatises but infrequently reported in osteological collections.

Materials

Analyses were conducted on 387 non-adult crania from the ossuary in the church of the Assumption of Valdepeñas (16th - 18th C.), Ciudad Real, Spain.

Methods

All complete or semi-complete crania of non-adults (aged 3–20 years) were macroscopically examined.

Results

Trepanation was detected in two adolescents aged 14 and 20 years; no evidence of their survival was observed.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that trepanation was carried out in rural areas as Valdepeñas in the 16th-18th centuries, where the selection of instruments indicates knowledge of contemporaneous medical treatises.

Significance

The present study provides new data on trepanation and how it was performed in adolescents during this period.

Limitations

Understanding the motive for these interventions is highly challenging in the absence of bone lesions, and their occurrence is likely underestimated due to the scant research in skeletal remains from the early Modern Age.

Suggestions for future research

Further palaeopathological analyses of osteological collections from this period will provide more information about how this surgical technique was perfected.