Why Trepan? Contributions from Medical History and the South Pacific

Technology now distorts our understanding of the past and other societies. Before Xrays, the only fractured skulls that could be diagnosed were those seen or felt at the bottom of a wound. Before antisepsis, all open wounds inevitably became infected. Without antisepsis, the scalp could not be stitched but was left open to drain, for fear of an abscess between the scalp and the skull.