AGIOS CHARALAMBOS CAVE - 2006

Agios Charalambos. P. McGeorge reports on a study of the skeletal remains of some 400 individuals from a cave site which held Minoan secondary burials, noting traumas and surgery amongst the pre-Middle Minoan IIB population.

Sixteen cases of cranial trauma (11 male) mostly affect the frontal or left parietal. In four cases (one female and three male), the damage was inflicted by a sharp, probably metal object that left a distinctively shaped hole. For the first male this was a blade wound to the forehead, for the second an arrow wound, and for the third a wound from a object of square section plus a depression fracture and a fracture probably from a slingshot. Most individuals, including two females, had suffered blows from a blunt instrument, occasionally causing severe injury.

Three cases of trephination include one child. Two individuals, trephined through the parietals, survived the operation. Knife guidelines were marked on two other skulls but the operation was not carried through. This may be the earliest surviving evidence of trephination in Greece.