{"id":14627,"date":"2023-03-05T17:12:12","date_gmt":"2023-03-05T17:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull"},"modified":"2023-03-05T18:01:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T18:01:30","slug":"archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull","title":{"rendered":"Archeologists Stunned After Discovering Possible Purpose of Square Hole in 3,500-Year-Old Skull"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>The Late Bronze Age remains were discovered in what is today northern Israel, with scientists positing two competing hypotheses to explain the invasive (and likely very painful) procedure on the poor human being\u2019s skull.<\/p>\n

Curious attempted surgical manipulations in the skull of a man who lived some 3,500 years ago may be evidence of an ancient form of brain surgery known as trephination, researchers have discovered.<\/p>\n

The story begins in 2016, when a pair of skeletons were found in a large ancient tomb in Megiddo \u2013a town in northern Israel referenced in the Bible\u2019s book of Revelation as the site of the final battle between the forces of God and Satan upon the arrival of Armageddon.<\/p>\n

The tomb, which was also filled with gold, silver, bronze, jewelry, ceramic pottery and other luxury items, appeared to indicate that the remains belonged to members of a wealthy ancient family.<\/p>\n

DNA analysis of the remains by researchers from the US, Israel and Austria determined that the skeletons belonged to two brothers, one of whom had a large square-shaped hole in his skull carved above the forehead with a sharp beveled edge. The precision cuts left smooth edges in the bone, exposing the brain for possible surgical manipulation.<\/p>\n

Both sets of bones showed signs of anemia during childhood, and lesions which scientists believe may have signaled serious disease such as tuberculosis or leprosy. The first brother was said to have died in his late teens or early 20s, while the one with the hole in his skull was determined to have died later, somewhere between the ages of 21 and 46. The older brother passed away either before or shortly after the invasive procedure was performed, as evidenced by the lack of signs of healing following surgery.<\/p>\n

The researchers, who published their work in the open access peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE this week, are confident that the square hole is evidence of a crude attempt at brain surgery . If their theory is correct, the discovery at Megiddo would be the oldest recorded brain surgery attempt anywhere in the Middle East. The oldest known example of the practice in the world was earlier discovered in France, where 40 skulls with trepanning holes were found at a burial site dating back to 6500 BC. (A whopping 8,500 years ago!)<\/p>\n

Kalisher said that these particular brothers were members of the city\u2019s elite, \u201cpart of the most wealthy class living at Megiddo, which was itself quite a wealthy city. They weren\u2019t part of the average population, and that\u2019s what we believe allowed them to survive as long as they did with the illness that they had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ancient Megiddo was thought to have been inhabited from around 7,000 to 500 BC, and served as an important trade hub connecting the ancient kingdoms in Egypt, Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia.<\/p>\n

However, other scientists aren\u2019t sure whether the square hole in the skull is evidence of a brain surgery, saying the procedure may have been carried out for religious or ritualistic purposes after the individual had already passed away. Israel Hershkovitz, a professor emeritus of anatomy and anthropology from Tel Aviv University, has pointed out that trepanations for therapeutic purposes were typically limited to small circular-shaped holes, not large square ones.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eritrea<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. The Late Bronze Age remains were discovered in what is today northern Israel, with scientists positing two competing hypotheses to explain the invasive (and likely very painful) procedure on the poor human being\u2019s skull. Curious attempted surgical manipulations in the skull of a man who lived some 3,500 years ago may be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[242,243,233],"class_list":["post-14627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-eritrea"],"yoast_head":"\nArcheologists Stunned After Discovering Possible Purpose of Square Hole in 3,500-Year-Old Skull - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Late Bronze Age remains were discovered in what is today northern Israel, with scientists positing two competing hyp ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Archeologists Stunned After Discovering Possible Purpose of Square Hole in 3,500-Year-Old Skull\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Late Bronze Age remains were discovered in what is today northern Israel, with scientists positing two competing hyp ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-05T17:12:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-05T18:01:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678023747.91.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"714\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Archeologists Stunned After Discovering Possible Purpose of Square Hole in 3,500-Year-Old Skull\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-05T17:12:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-05T18:01:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull\"},\"wordCount\":560,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1678023747.91.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"Eritrea\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/archeologists-stunned-after-discovering-possible-purpose-of-square-hole-in-3500-year-old-skull\",\"name\":\"Archeologists Stunned After Discovering Possible Purpose of Square Hole in 3,500-Year-Old Skull - 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