Trephination (Bechoros 37)

Today's Daf has a reference to trephination, sometimes pronounced and spelled trepanation, which is an ancient practice that is actually discovered worldwide in many different civilizations.

Uh, it was well known in the ancient period in Israel, and it appears to have been practiced all the way through the Byzantine period, meaning up until the Muslim conquest.

Uh, and in fact, it's practiced in Europe right up until, believe it or not, the twenty-first century in some circles.

What exactly is this? It's basically the removal of a small piece of the skull for some medicinal or possibly ritual purpose.

Uh, it was believed in different societies that, um, uh, it was a way to cure migraines or, uh, excess pressure in the brain.

Uh, it may have been used in many cases to repeal, uh, the damage effects of some kind of blunt trauma, like if there was a skull fracture, pieces of the skull would be removed.

Uh, in some cases, it was, it was used as a treatment for mental illness, which makes you wonder about the physicians practicing in the first place.

Maybe they should try some trephination.

But at any rate, one of the amazing things about the archeological discovery associated with trephination is that quite often people survived the removal of pieces of their skull because evidence of healing is shown around the edges of the incision.

Uh, this is-- Well, it's just too bizarre.

But it is known to have occurred in Israel with some frequency.

It's not clear whether or not the patients were Israelites or were indigenous other peoples from the region.

But for example, in this, uh, image you see on the left, a skull from Yericho, from Jericho, and on the right, a skull that has trephination from, uh, Timna, both, uh, parts of Israel.

Um, I just don't know what to say about this.