The Preparation: Shrunken Heads and Trophy Head Methods

Stipulation: The article about the practice of shrinking heads is from the 1920s so some of the information is vague about in what culture they observed this practice of shrinking heads.  They generalize the practice of shrinking heads to be done by all Amazonian Indians; however the method of how they shrink the heads seems to be legitimate because of a comparison with another source.

Jivaro, Non-Ceremonial Shrunken Head

Over 100 Nasca trophy heads have been found in Peru, making the Nasca, along with Paracas (a tribe also found in ancient Peru), one of the few cultures that used decapitated heads for ritual use.  Each head is prepared in a particular manner.  These heads were removed from the body using a sharp obsidian knife.   The cut split the cervical vertebrae, completing removing the head from the body. 

 Cervical Vertebrae (neck), demonstrating the cut where the head was removed.

From there, a club was taken to the base of the skull, removing the foramen magnum along with parts of the occipital bone (Proulx 2001:123).  All the soft tissue, including the eyes, muscles and the brain were removed from the skull through this hole at the base of the skull (DeLeonardis 2000:366).  The next part is the process that makes Nasca trophy heads so unique; the hole for the carrying rope must be created.  A hole must be punctured or drilled through the center of forehead.  A wooden toggle attached to the end of the carrying rope is then inserted into the head through the forehead hole.  This secures the rope in place.

Nasca Trophy Heads

Nasca trophy heads are naturally mummified.  Their lips and eyes are sewn shut with cactus needles or thorns from huardango trees.  The head is now stuffed with cloth, though some skulls have found traces of maize, cactus skins, maní and pacae (Proulx 2001:124).  The finished product is supposed to appear lifelike, generally still having skin and hair on the outside of the skull (DeLeonardis 2000:367).

Jivaro Shrunken head found in Cuenca, Ecuador

The conqueror cuts off the head, spilts the scalp by a vertical incision in the occipital region, and neatly removes the skull with the brain, eyes, muscles, jaw, and tongue, leaving the skin of the face and scalp intact.  The incision is closed a continuous stitch and the coetaneous bag is packed with hot pebbles, or hot sand, and carefully dried in the sun… When this process is complete the skin shrinks to the size of an orange preserving the features (John Bland-Sutton 1922)

Similar to what the Nasca do their own shrunken heads lips these Amazonian Indians seal the lips shut with thread, instead of cactus needles, that can be dyed in alternating colors or un-dyed.  

References:

Bland-Sutton, James (1922)

Spolia Nemoralia (Shrunken Heads, Ear-plugs, and Labrets).  The British Medical Journal. 2(3228) 932-934. BMJ Publishing Groups.

DeLeonardis, Lisa

The Body Context: Interpretating Early Nasca Decapitated Burials In Latin American Antiquity. Society for American Archaeology. 11(4):363-386. 2000 http://www.jstor.org/stable/972002

Proulx, Donald A.

Ritual Uses of Trophy Heads in Ancient Nasca Society In Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru, edited by Elizabeth Benson and Anita Cook. Austin: University of Texas Press. Pp. 119-136. 2001

Fun Fact: If you would like to Shrink heads yourself, this website will show you how.  Go to http://shrunkenheadcookbook.com/shrunken-heads-gallery.html

Created By: Catie, Kristina, and Mandy

A comparison of Nasca and Asmat Headhunters: The Collectors of Trophies and Identities

David Browne stated that: “nowhere and at no time in ancient Peru did severed head iconography and actual head-hunting reach the apparent obsession of Nasca” (David Browne 1993: 275).

Here is a picture of the hole in the middle of the skull where the rope was tied through (Browne).

Not all severed heads can be called trophy heads; for it to be called a “trophy head,” it has to meet the minimal criteria (Browne 275).  A hole has to be present in the frontal bone of the head, because that is where they would string a carrying rope through the skull.  That is the main requirement for a Nasca trophy head; however there are some other qualities these trophy heads could have: widen foramen magnums (drainage of soft tissues for mummification to occur), sealing of eyes/lips with spines, and cotton can be stuffed under skin flaps (this was to keep the original facial shape). 

Here is an example of a Nasca trophy head with the carrying rope (Browne).

There is a debate whether or not that the Nasca “trophy heads” label is appropriate; there is question as to whether the severed heads were “obtained as trophies of wars or memorabilia of non-conquest ritual practices” (Browne 275).  In early Nasca times (100 B.C.-A.D. 400/500) trophy heads were not a common practice; however, this practice changed from supernatural to a form of strength in warfare. The use of these trophy heads were an indication of an individual’s social powers.    

Another practice of headhunting happened in New Guinea up until the 1900s.  In contrast to the Nasca trophy heads, headhunting in New Guinea still was focused around obtaining and capturing the soul but in a different way.  When a child of the Asmat people came to a certain age they needed a new social identity.  The Asmat men would go on headhunting raids to seek out new names for their children.  The names of these people had more meaning than our use of a name because each name held a social identity and power of the victim; when the victim was beheaded the name and the social identity was transmitted to the new owner of the name being the child (Harrison 2002: 215).

The kin of the beheaded must now treat the new owner of the name as if it were their own relation.  Before all of this transpired the men of the Asmat must acquire the victims name before they beheaded them.  Sometimes they would use trickery to obtain the name.  Each child could be presented with more then one name and inherit all the powers of the beheaded.  With this new power there was some psychological factors to the new identity in that the new child began to act as the victim (Harrison 2002: 221).  Both the Asmat in New Guinea and the Nasca trophy heads in Peru believed that heads contained social powers and identities. They held a spiritual meaning in both the cultures. 

Here we had a collection of many people's heads.  Each head is a representation of the name that other people now posses

Citations:

Harrison, Simon

            2002 The Politics of Resemblance: Ethnicity, Trademarks, Head-Hunting. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Electronic document. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3134473?seq=9, Accesed: September 12, 2010.

Browne, David M., Helaine Silverman and Rubén García

            1993 A Cache of 48 Nasca Trophy Heads from Cerro Carapo, Peru. Latin American Antiquity. Electronic document. http://www.jstor.org/stable/971792, Accesed: September 12, 2010.