Not really tea-time viewing, but I’ve posted a photo of an apparently ‘trephinated’ skull found in a long barrow at Bisley (perhaps this very barrow... it’s a bit confusing). It was found by Dr. W. H. Paine from Stroud, in 1863. We read: “this is only a partial trephination, the operation having been abandoned either on account of the death of the patient or an unwillingness on the part of the priest-doctor to proceed with it.” How about the unwillingness of the patient?! This 1923 paper by Thomas Parry even has some photos showing his (patientless) experiments into how it might have been done. A fascinating and ghastly subject to ponder on.
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Was it not possible that he abandoned the operation after he realised the patient was dead? Sorry, asking for a friend.
You may well be right :)
On the 'trepanning' page on Wikipedia I see there's a photo of a skull where the patient survived and the bone started healing. Interesting that it's been a Thing all over the world? Even seems quite popular in some places. I can't think I'd want anyone doing that to my skull, thank you. But who knows what compelling reasons they had for it.