Editing Trepanning (section)

=== Ancient China ===
Before 2007, archaeological evidence of trepanation in ancient China was nonexistent. Since Chinese culture mainly focuses only on [[traditional Chinese medicine]] that usually entails non-surgical treatments such as [[acupuncture]], balancing [[Qigong]], [[Cupping therapy|cupping]], [[Herbal medicine|herbal remedies]], etc. The resulting misconception was that trepanation was not practiced in ancient China. However, in 2007, Han and Chen from the Institute of Archeology, [[Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]] looked at six trepanned skulls spanning between the Neolithic period through the Bronze and Iron Ages ({{circa|5000–2000}} years ago) found in five different locations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Hobert|first1=Leah|last2=Binello|first2=Emanuela|date=May 2017|title=Trepanation in Ancient China|journal=World Neurosurgery|volume=101|pages=451–56|doi=10.1016/j.wneu.2016.10.051|issn=1878-8769|pmid=27769950}}</ref> Along with the discovery of these trepanned skulls, another collection of 13 trepanned skulls was discovered and dated to 3,000 years ago.<ref name=":0" /> In 2015, an intact 3,600-year-old [[mummy]] with a trepanned skull was discovered. Meanwhile, the oldest trepanned skull (M382) analysed by Han and Chen was radiocarbon dated to around 5,000 years ago and discovered at the Fuija site in [[Guangrao]], [[Shandong]]. The skull, which belonged to an adult male, exhibited a right [[Parietal lobe|parietal]] [[Calvaria (skull)|calvarial]] defect (31 x 25&nbsp;mm) with evidence of scraping by a [[trephine]]-like tool.<ref name=":0" /> Additionally, bone regeneration and smooth edges suggest that the subject recovered from the surgery and lived a relatively long time afterward.

The 3,600-year-old perforated skull of a mummified female dating to 1615&nbsp;BCE was found in the [[Xiaohe Cemetery|Xiaohe tomb]] in China's [[Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region]].<ref name=":0" /> The only known female with a trepanned skull, it showed signs of bone spurs growth and retraction of the edges, suggesting that she also survived the surgery. Found in a massive burial site, this mummy was one of the hundreds found in the "Little River" Tomb complex.

The Bronze Age was found to be the period with the largest number of trepanned skulls in ancient China.<ref name=":0" />