In 1897, a French military doctor stole a very valuable artifact from the village of Taberga. It was a human skull on which the healers of the Berber tribe from generation to generation demonstrated their skill of trepanning during “professional initiation.” From the standpoint of modern scientific ethics, this act looks bad, although it became known about the complex skills and rituals in the society of traditional culture, going back to into the deep past. Since ancient times, human culture has been full of secrets and mysteries, not all of which have been revealed. And yet it is interesting to look at the history of our ancestors through ... “a hole in the head.” Trepanation was part of complex burial rites; masks were created from trepanned skulls; some tribes kept the heads of killed enemies in their own homes! Why are traditional healers still in demand in society today? How successful were cranial vault operations in the Stone Age? Were antiseptics really invented in the ancient world? And why was trepanation (the earliest surgical operation in human history) important in the lives of our ancestors? These and many other questions will be answered in the book by Doctor of Historical Sciences Maria Mednikova, “The Receptacle of the Spirit. History of trepanation in different cultures.” The publishing layout of the book is saved in PDF A4 format.