• Michael L J Apuzzo, Charles Y Liu, Daniel Sullivan, and Rodrick A Faccio.
• Department of Neurological Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. neurosurgery-journal@hsc.usc.edu
• Neurosurgery. 2007 Jul 1; 61 (1 Suppl): 28; discussion 28-31.

AbstractSafe and beneficial surgery of the human cerebrum is arguably one of mankind's most notable achievements and one of the great testimonials to human creativity, intelligence, and character. In many ways, it is a testimony to the climates of civilization that have marked human history. In historical terms, in the year 2007, cranial surgery celebrated its 12,000th birthday, with cranial manipulation for various religious, mystical, and therapeutic reasons being evident in Africa more than 10 millennia before the birth of Christ. This article traces the major developments and attitudes that have laid the foundations of modernity in what is currently surgery and medicine's most exciting and complex technical exercise. It is in fact a 12,000 year prelude to the modernity that we currently enjoy. Before attempting to define our modernity and emerging futurism with reinvention, examination of the prolonged and tedious invention is appropriate for perspective. The following examines and recounts the accrual of data and changes in attitude over the stream of history that have allowed refined surgery of the human cerebrum to become a reality.

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