Possible Trepanation Tool Unearthed in Poland

News November 13, 2025

Iron surgical instrument
Bartłomiej Kaczyński
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WARSAW, POLAND—According to a Live Science report, a metal tool that may have been used to scrape a hole in human skulls has been found at the Celtic fortified settlement site of Łysa Góra, which is located in east-central Poland. Bartłomiej Kaczyński of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw said that the object had been precisely manufactured some 2,300 years ago with a blade that transitions to a spike. The implement may have once had a wooden handle. “The Celts practiced trepanation, as indicated by individual tools discovered in graves,” Kaczyński said. “It seems that these operations had not only a magical but also a medical purpose.” No remains of people who had undergone the procedure have yet been uncovered at Łysa Góra, however. To read about evidence of trepanation on a 5,200-year-old cow skull, go to "Around the World: France."

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