What is trepanning?

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Again in my medical research, I came across another word with which I was not familiar. And again, I wondered how many of you might not be familiar with this word either. According to my research, trepanning may be the oldest form of surgery ever performed. Trepanning involves drilling a hole in the skull. It has been “discovered” that in the Neolithic Age, this procedure was done, probably to relieve pressure on the brain from having a fractured skull, convulsions, epilepsy, insanity and chronic headaches. Doctors today STILL use trepanning to relieve pressure on the brain. It was a new word for me. Have you ever heard of it before? In direct contrast to this, I found that ancient Egyptian doctors did not use anesthesia, but before operating they would whack the patient in the head with a wooden mallet to knock him out. An effective alternative??? I guess, if the patient survived that blow to the head, he then might recover from the surgery, eventually. The first anesthetic of any record was marijuana mixed with a strong wine, that was used by Hua T’a, a Chinese doctor in the second century A.D. Who knew?