On skull trepanation on the territory of Azerbaijan in Neolithic period
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52967/akz2023.1.19.114.132Keywords:
archaeology, physical anthropology, Azerbaijan, Near East, Neolithic, trepanation, paleopathologyAbstract
The article examines skulls with traces of craniotomy, which were found on archaeological sites of the New Stone Age period: Polutepe, Jalilabad district (published for the first time); Chalagantepe, Aghdam district, in the context of similar finds from the Middle East of the same period. Manipulation on the left side of occipital bone of a man from Polutepe was made by drilling method; at parietal bone of woman skull from Chalagantepe - by drilling and cutting. Craniotomies from Polutepe and Chalagantepe were probably performed for medical purposes. In the case of Polutepe, the patient died possibly during or immediately after the operation; from Chalagantepe, the person was still alive for a certain time. In the Middle East, cases of Neolithic craniotomy were found in Turkey: Chatal Höyük (drilling), Aşıklı Höyük (drilling), Çayönü (drilling), Göbekli Tepe (drilling), Kurban Höyük – the late Neolithic – early Chalcolithic (cutting), Kuruçay Höyük – early Chalcolithic (drilling); in Palestine – Tell es-Sultan/Jericho (method undescribed); in Israel – Kfar HaHoresh (drilling); in Iraq – Zawi Chemi Shanidar (cauterization); UAE – Jebel Buhais 18 (scraping). Manipulations from Chatal Höyük, Çayönü, Göbekli Tepe, Kfar HaHoresh, Zawi Chemi Shanidar were made in ritual-symbolic purposes; from Aşıklı Höyük, Kurban Höyük, Kuruçay Höyük, Jericho, Jebel Buhais 18 ‑ for medicinal purposes. Drilling was the predominant method of trepanation in the Neolithic period in the South Caucasus and the Middle East. It is possible that this method of craniotomy came to Azerbaijan from the territory of Turkey, where it prevailed at the time under study.
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