This volume will look at the history of trepanation, the identification of skulls, the tools used to make the cranial openings, and theories as to why trepanation might have been performed many thousands of years ago. 'The History, Discovery and Theory of Trepanation is a finely produced hardback from swets. It is based on a conference held in Birmingham. Paul Broker in 1876 wrote: e practised during the Neolithic Epoch a surgical operation that consisted of opening the cranium. This book is well illustrated and provides a history of this elderly neurosurgical procedure.' -- Christopher Gardner-Thorpe. 'Giving the abscence of any remotely similiar volume in the scientific literature, this collection should be added to the science holdings of every university and college library supporting undergraduate programs in anthropology, archaeology and the history of medicine, as well as large public libraries maintaining detailed scientific collections and museum libraries.' -- Robert B. Ridinger, Northern Illionois University Founders Memorial Library. 'It is a pleasure to find comprehensive treatises on a single subject that brings together scholors from as many and varied fields as are present in this book... This is a physically handsome volume and the whole is well worth reading and digesting.' -- Christopher Knusel, University of Bradford, UK