Miklós Kásler - Zoltán Szentirmay (szerk.): Identifying the Árpád Dynasty Skeletons Interred in the Matthias Church. Applying data from historical, archaeological, anthropological, radiological, morphological, radiocarbon dating and genetic research (Budapest, 2021)
CHAPTER THREE – Archaeological, anthropological and radiological data
wound healing. We also observed and recorded this change in the bone (Figure 17). Figurative trepanation is observed on Hungarians from the 10th and 11th centuries on skull finds from the Carpathian Basin, as well as on the route of Hungarians as they embarked on The Conquest, for example on skulls found around the Volga river and graves around the Caucasus. This practice is not known among other European peoples. In absence of written records, no one can tell why the practice existed, but it certainly did not have a healing purpose; instead, it may have been part of a shamanic ritual or rite of initiation. Figurative trepanation was only observed on adult men and women, and it was done in such a clever way that the wound never became infected and healed well. The scientific literature documents some two hundred cases of figurative trepanation. With the spread of Christianity, the practice disappeared, which is why it is strange that clear signs of it were found on King Béla Ills skull, long after the conversion to Christianity. Figure 17. Circular trace of figurative trepanation on Béla Ill ’s skull. 84
