ABSTRACT
Such knowledge can be tracked back through the Paleopathology, a science devoted to study the diseases that are likely to be demonstrated in ancient human or animal remains. Therefore, little was known about epilepsy prior to the advent of written documents since the materials used by Paleopathology consist basically of bone remains from caves, deposits, or from a necropolis. The main pathologies that can be diagnosed are traumatic injuries (fractures) (Figure 3.1), infections (osteomyelitis, syphilis, tuberculosis, etc.), metabolic diseases (raquitism, scurvy), degenerative diseases (arthrosis, spondylosis, etc.), bone tumors, or meningeomas and dental conditions.1,2
Trepanations in pre-Columbian America The word ‘trepanation’ means removal of a fragment of skull bone by means of an instrument called a trepan, which comes from the Greek word tripanon (puncher).3 In the preColumbian America, trepanations were carried out only occasionally in North America, Central America (Mayas), and Mexico, where the Zapotec and then the Mixteca cultures established themselves in the huge city of Monte Alban, Oaxaca. They probably carried out trepanation just as a ritual, since the skulls found belong to young people of both genders.4,5
Nevertheless, trepanations became more frequently performed on the coast of the South America Pacific Ocean, within the arid climate zones that today belong to Peru and North of Chile (the Paraca, Nazca, and Mochica cultures) as well as in the central Andean highlands (Altiplano) of Peru and Bolivia (Huari or Wari, Tiahuanaco, or Tiwanaku, Chimu, and Inca cultures).6 The dry climate of the Peruvian coast has allowed an excellent conservation of more than 15,000 mummies from the pre-Columbian period; most of them are stored in the National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology in Lima, Peru.7 The age of these mummies can
date back to 2500 years and 5% of them show evidence of in vivo trepanation. Seventy percent of the skulls from the pre-Columbian Peru belong to men.
