Evidence of Trephinations among the Garamantes,a Late Holocene Saharan Population

The current communication examines three male individuals who belonged to the Garamantian civilisation, Fezzan, Libya. The individuals have been dated to ad 1–700 and exhibit signs of perforations on their crania, which appear to represent trephinations. The sophistication of the practice and its successful execution, as evidenced by traces of healing, indicate that the Garamantes possessed the knowledge of complex surgical procedures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.