Discovery of the First Hippocratic Cranial Trepanation from the Greek colony of Himera, Sicily (6th-5th century B.C.).

The cranium of the young woman from HimPT2004 has been trepanated during life for unknown reasons. Survival after trepanation, if any, was minimal and radiologically not detectable. It is the first Italian case of trepanation of classical Greek age and culture. The form of the trepanation is consistent with the utilisation of a cylindrical crown wheel drill, the prion or Hippocratic drill. This type of drill is mentioned in Hippocratic texts and it has been found in archeological excavations but the trepanated skull from Himera is the first direct evidence of its utilization. Moreover, the dating of the tomb (between 525 and 480 B.C.) proves that the instrument was invented before the birth of Hippocrates himself (460-355 B.C.). This find sheds new light on Greek pre-Hippocratic medicine and proves that sophisticated surgical techniques and surgical instruments already existed at least by the beginning of the 5th century B.C. This knowledge was later improved and formalized by Hippocrates, but not entirely discovered by him.