The collective burial site of Camino del Molino, in Caravaca de la Cruz (Murcia), was discovered by chance in 2007 during the construction of a housing development and had to be urgently excavated just a few months later. Thus, a circular structure of about 7 meters in diameter was discovered that never stops giving surprises. The latest was to discover that among the people who were buried there was a woman who survived not one, but up to two cranial surgeries... about 4,500 years ago.
The tomb space was part of an ancient cave that was modified by humans, clearly altering the walls and floor. Bodies were repeatedly introduced inside in two phases that span most of the third millennium BC, grouping them around the walls, until the site was filled with almost 1,350 deceased people.
“This is the largest prehistoric burial site known to date,” explains archaeologist Sonia Díaz-Navarro, from the University of Valladolid, in an article published in the December issue of the International Journal of Paleopathology.
This place included 334 children from 0 to 12 years old, 79 adolescents, 417 young adults (up to 39 years old), 468 middle-aged adults and 50 elderly people over 60 years old. Among all of them, individual S21 stood out, a woman who died between the ages of 35 and 46 during the Copper Age.
The researchers observed healed lesions on three ribs, spondylosis on the vertebrae, and tartar and cavities on the teeth. But what interested them most were two holes in its head, one circular and the other ellipsoidal, both with smooth edges. Once the skull fracture or diseases were ruled out, the specialists completely opted for trepanation using the scraping technique.
“The site where the holes were made is a cranial region rarely documented in prehistoric trephinations – a surgical procedure that exposed the outermost layer of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord – as it contains temporal muscles and important blood vessels. ”the researchers write in their study.
In the Iberian Peninsula it was more common for these operations to be performed in the frontal and superior parietal regions. Surprisingly, the woman appears to have survived both interventions, as evidenced by the healed bone in her skull. Investigators believe she lived for several months after the second surgery.
The holes measured 53 by 31 millimeters and 32 by 12 millimeters, respectively. The surgeon likely rubbed a stone instrument against the cranial vault to create the hole while the woman was restrained by other members of her community.
Trephinations that used the scraping technique, like this case, were much more successful and safer than drilling. Ancient surgeons generally did not damage the meninges or brain, which reduced the risk of possible infections after surgery.
In the case of the woman from Camino del Molino, archaeologists are still not clear why they performed this surgical intervention, one of the oldest carried out for therapeutic purposes to treat cranial trauma, epilepsy, headaches or psychiatric illnesses.
