The Lost Art of Northwestern Amazonian Head Shrinkers
Head Hunting has long been tied with the with many regions of the world but Head Shrinking has only been known to occur in the northwestern part of the Amazonian area and as far as what is now Ecuador and Peru.
The process starts by cutting a line at the base of the severed head which allows the skin to be pulled off the skull. The fat is removed from the inside of the skin and a smaller wooden ball is placed inside the head. The eyes and mouth are sewn shut and red seeds are placed in the eye lids before sewing. The whole head is boiled in a brew of herbs (containing tannins) which give it durability. The head is then dusted with ashes in hopes of retaining the spirit of the decreased.
Shrunken heads were used in trade. They were freely traded in the northwestern Amazonian region for guns and supplies up until the 1930's.
The Nazi's who were known to be fans of the occult have played a part in this macabre trade as is documents in Ripley's Believe It or Not :
"It is a well known fact that Nazis committed unspeakable atrocities on their captives during the Holocaust in World War II, including medical and inhuman experiments.
A lesser known fact is that recovered with other “medical artifacts” from the concentration camp at Buchenwald, Germany, were two human shrunken heads.
Documentation indicated that they were made from two Jewish Polish prisoners that tried to escape and were later executed.
One of the heads was later used as evidence of SS atrocities in the Nuremberg trials in 1945-46. We don’t have that head, but we have a crude replica of the one used in the trial. It was later discovered that, although authentic in nature, the shrunken heads were, in fact, not Jewish or Polish, but all the way from the Equatorial jungles of South America. "
Within time shrunken heads became increasingly popular especially after thier sale was banned. The increased demand among the curious lead to a huge market in fake shrunken heads. Up to this day what is usually described as authentic in pictures are just very good replicas.
Sloths: Ahead of the pack.
Unfortunately heads were usually collected during battle with an enemy but when removing a head proved to be too impractical, sloths were used as a handy replacment trophy.
Thank you for reading.
Cheers,
Alex Gomez
Keep Steeming!!!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrunken_head
http://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/
Pic Sources:
http:/www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/shrunken-head-other-san-diego-museum.jpg
http:/cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0151/8127/files/Art_Tsantsas_large.jpg
http:/2.bp.blogspot.com/-emyEvqbxCTI/VW6o2ASRPEI/AAAAAAAAOoM/zk1h8FyxqWI/s1600/head23.JPG