Part 1: Trepanation: Discovery and Palaeopathology Chapter 1. Ephraim George Squier’s Peruvian Skull and the Discovery of Cranial Trepanation

No specimen has figured more prominently in the history of cranial trepanation than the Inca skull shown in Figure 1. Obtained in the Cuzco region of Peru, and dated between 1,400 and 1,530 AD, the incomplete skull (posterior and interior portions are missing) was brought to the United States in 1865 by Ephraim George Squier (1821-1888). It is presently a part of the physical anthropology collection of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.