Excerebration

An object more than 6.8 inches long, probably made from plants in the group Monocotyledon (including palm and bamboo), would have been used for liquefying and removing the brain. The instrument would be inserted through a hole punched into the ethmoid bone near the nose via a chisel. Some parts of the brain would be wrapped around this stick and pulled out, and the other parts would be liquefied. In order to drain the remaining liquefied brain and cerebral fluid, the individual would be put on their abdomen or their head would be lifted.

Evolution of Excerebration

Excerebration can be traced back to the Old Kingdom through Greco-Roman Egypt. The evidence of excerebration consists primarily of skull perforations. During the Old and Middle Kingdom there was a low frequency of skull perforations, leading some authors to hypothesize an alternative entrance via the foramen magnum. In skulls from the New Kingdom the primary entrance was transnasal.

Over the millennia excerebration has changed. In the Old and Middle Kingdoms a transethmoidal excerebration was the standard. With the assistance of modern technology and CT scanning more evidence has arisen as to where in the skull excerebration occurred. Through CT scans it has been determined that over time the transethmoidal approach was shifted towards a transsphenoidal approach. However, there is also evidence of a combined transethmoidal-transsphenoidal excerebration that could have been used in the Third Intermediate Period.