Ritualistic cranial surgery in the Qijia Culture (2300-1500 BCE), Gansu, China = 甘肃齐家文化中仪式性开颅手术初探

• Main Authors: Dittmar, Jenna M., Zhan, Xiaoya, Berger, Elizabeth, Mao, Ruilin, Wang, Hui, Zhao, Yongsheng, Yeh, Hui-Yuan
• Other Authors: School of Humanities
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Humanities::History; Trepanation; Surgery
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140974
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Evidence of cranial surgery, in the form of trepanations, has been found at prehistoric archaeological sites from all over the world. Within this large body of evidence, it is clear that trepanations vary in size, location and the reason for which they were performed. Numerous trepanations have been discovered at archaeological sites across China, but very few have come from Qijia Culture (2300-1500 BC) sites in Northwest China. This research describes a wellhealed trepanation on an adult male individual(M179:R2) from the Mogou site and compares it to contemporaneous examples from China that date from 3000~0 BC in order to elucidate how and why this procedure was performed. A small circular opening with slightly irregular, but well-healed, margins was identified on the left parietal bone, immediately posterior to the coronal suture. The characteristics of the lesion suggest that the scraping method was employed to create the opening. Unfortunately, the advanced stage of healing made the identification of the specific instrument used in the trepanation impossible. The characteristics of the incision and the archaeological context led the authors to propose that the trepanation on M179:R2 was performed as part of a magicoritual, rather than for a non-ritual medical purpose. This is supported by the presence of multiple individuals, mainly men, from the Mogou site with similar well-healed trepanations. 作为脑外科手术的一种，开颅术在世界多地史前遗址中均有发现。大量发现表明开颅术在颅骨上的尺寸、位置及手术原因千差万别。开颅术在中国境内亦有发现；但在齐家文化（2300-1500BC）遗址中十分少见。位于甘肃省甘南藏族自治区临潭县陈旗乡的磨沟遗址是一处重要的齐家文化墓葬遗址。本文将重点讨论一例磨沟出土的开颅个体，该成年男性个体 (M179:R2) 颅骨上有愈合程度较高的开颅术的痕迹；同时，将其与其他同时期（3000~0 BC）中国出土的开颅术个体进行比较分析，从而论证阐述开颅术实行的原因及过程。该个体左侧顶骨冠状缝后侧位置处有一圆形穿孔，其小孔边缘不甚规则，且有明显愈合痕迹。穿孔切口的特征显示该穿孔由刮削法完成。但由于该穿孔高度愈合，我们无法准确判断完成穿孔所使用的工具。该个体上开颅术的特征以及相关考古学资料使得作者们认为 M179:R2 进行开颅术的原因或与巫术仪式有关。同时，磨沟出土的其他带有开颅术个体（大多数是男性，且颅骨开颅处愈合程度较高）也支持这一观点。