It remains a mystery how exactly the pregnant woman died hundreds of years ago around the age of 25-35, but markings on her skull indicate she underwent medieval brain surgery at least a week prior, with a hole drilled neatly into her skull. Post-mortem fetal extrusion, more commonly known as ‘coffin birth,’ is a rare phenomenon in which an unborn fetus is expelled from the body after a pregnant woman has died. And, as the body swells, the increase in pressure on the organs can sometimes force the fetus out through the vaginal canal. And, the researchers say it even exhibits signs of early bone healing, indicating the woman survived at least a week after the procedure was done. ‘This finding is one of the few documented cases of trepanation in the European Early Middle Ages, and the only one featuring a pregnant woman in association with a post mortem fetal extrusion phenomenon,’ the authors wrote.

Source: Daily Mail March 26, 2018 23:29 UTC