Why Did Ancient Humans Drill Holes in Living Heads?

Why did ancient humans drill holes in living heads? Around 7,000 years ago, someone opened a person's skull with a stone blade, and the bone around the hole healed. That means the patient survived. In this video, we follow one of the oldest surgeries in human history: from a Stone Age skull found near Ensisheim in France to the Inca healers of Peru, who may have saved around three out of four patients. We look at how scientists can tell a healed skull from a fresh cut, how Ephraim George Squier and Paul Broca proved the operation was real in the 1860s, how the surgery was actually done, and what we still don't know about the pain and the reasons behind it. We also play a game: an ancient Peruvian healer against a surgeon from the American Civil War. Who would you rather be operated on by? The answer might surprise you. Where the evidence is disputed, like why people did this at all or whether they had any painkillers, we tell you that too. The operation scene in the video is an imagined reconstruction built from real archaeological finds. Thanks for watching, and subscribe to keep the fire going. 🔥 #ancienthumans #prehistory #archaeology