Bow-drill shaft, shell-bladed, wood handle, for trephination, probably English, 1900-1915

This trephine is an attempt to re-create pre-modern trephination, by making a trephine from materials readily available, such as wood and shell. Trephination may have been carried out from as early as 5000 BCE to drive out the evil spirits that were thought to cause illness. It is shown here with a piece of skull used in a trephination experiment (A651998.)