News Anthropology

North America’s oldest skull surgery dates to at least 3,000 years ago

Bone regrowth suggests a man survived having a hole scraped out of his forehead

illustration of an ancient trepanation surgery

The oldest known instance of skull surgery in North America, perhaps resembling the scene illustrated here, occurred between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago in what's now Alabama, a new study suggests.

JOSE ANTONIO PENAS/Science Source

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

A man with a hole in his forehead, who was interred in what’s now northwest Alabama between around 3,000 and 5,000 years ago, represents North America’s oldest known case of skull surgery.