Trepanned Skull from a Burial of the Golden Horde Period in Mingachevir
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24852/2587-6112.2025.6.157.168Keywords:
archaeology, Azerbaijan, Mongol burials, the Middle Ages, the Golden Horde, craniometry, trepanation, paleopathologyAbstract
The paper examines a case of craniotomy dating back to the medieval period. In 1950, during archaeological excavations in the construction zone of the Mingachevir Hydroelectric Power Station (the Republic of Azerbaijan), three Mongolian burials of the late 13th - early 14th centuries were discovered at settlement No. 3. The anthropological material studied in this publication - a male skull - is currently deposited in the Archaeological Fund of the National Museum of History of Azerbaijan. The cranium was found in one of the aforementioned burials. The skull, belonging to a male aged 50+, is brachycranial and is attributed to a representative of the Central Asian race with a mix of Southern Siberian features. The right parietal bone of the cranium has a trepanation hole of an elongated oval shape measuring 1.8 × 2.4 cm. The craniotomy was presumably performed using a scraping and cutting method. The operation was completed successfully and was carried out during the individual’s lifetime. The presence of healing traces on the walls and edges of the defect indicates a favorable outcome. It is likely that the individual lived for a certain period after the craniotomy. The procedure was presumably performed for medical purposes, and a head injury was the indication. To date, no trepanation cases among the population of the Golden Horde from the same period have been documented or scientifically described. The closest similarity in the execution of such procedures can be found in materials from Hungary of an earlier period. Looking further back, a similar procedure was performed on the skull of a man from the Scythian era in the Altai Mountains. It is possible that the Azerbaijani case represents a continuation of the craniotomy practices of surgeons from the Eurasian steppes.
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