The average cow needs cranial surgery like it needs a hole in the head, but for one ancient bovine, it appears that’s exactly what the doctor ordered.

Researchers describing a hole in the skull of a Neolithic cow say it’s possibly the earliest example of veterinary surgery — though it may have also been mere practice for performing the procedure on a human patient.

Trepanation, or the act of intentionally making a hole in the skull, has a long history in our species (and it’s still o