Three possible cases of cranioclasis indicating obstetric extraction of the fetus in a Spanish rural population of the late 17th and early 18th Centuries

Cranioclasis is a technique that was formerly used to extract the fetus during births that were complicated due to different causes. This procedure was usually resorted to once the fetus was confirmed to be dead. This technique was substituted by the caesarean section in the mid-twentieth century. The aim of this study is to analyze osseous lesions observed in the crania of three neonates buried in the period between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century in the church-fortress known as Iglesia Fortaleza de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles in Castielfabib, Rincon de Ademuz, province of Valencia, Spain. The instrumental incisions found in the occipital bones of the three neonates, as well as the overlap of their neurocranial bones, are compatible with cranioclasis. The cranial lesions in the three neonate occipital bones discovered in Castielfabib in Ademuz-Valencia, Spain could confirm the practice of cranioclasis in this region of Spain at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century.