Shrunken Heads

[Tempest63]

Tonight on the Food channel, boiled head with all the trimmings. Make lots - they shrink in the pot.

I’ve made Brawn in the past from boiled pigs heads, also known as “head cheese” in some quarters.

 

[Min Bannister]

I looked in my big book of shrunken heads to see if I could find anything about this story, doesn’t seem to be there.

I think a short and almost certainly apocryphal anecdote in the book has been "embellished" somewhat on the webpage.

 

[EnolaGaia]

According to this book the shrinking of entire bodies was never a Shuar / Jivaro practice, but there were an unknown number of illustrative exceptions done in the late 19th century:

... It is generally agreed that an authentic tsantsa is seldom female and that it never includes a torso or full body, although some full shrunken bodies were made by the Jivaro about 1890 as demonstrations. ...

Kate C. Duncan (2000)
1001 curious things : Ye Olde Curiosity Shop and Native American art
Page 146

https://archive.org/details/1001curiousthing0000dunc/page/146/mode/2up

 

[EnolaGaia]

This Live Science article describes the process of authenticating an Ecuadorian tsantsa as a cultural artifact (as opposed to a commercial product) and its repatriation. The article also includes some details about the head-shrinking procedure.

Ecuadorian shrunken head used in 1979 movie 'Wise Blood' was real, experts say

A tsantsa, or shrunken head, that was brought to the U.S. in the 1940s has been repatriated. ...

A shrunken head from Ecuador that was brought to the United States in the 1940s (and in 1979 was loaned as a prop to the film "Wise Blood") has been authenticated and repatriated to its country of origin.

In 1942, James Ostelle Harrison — a faculty member at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, now deceased — acquired the object, known as a "tsantsa," during his travels in Ecuador. Harrison donated the head to the university, where it was displayed in campus museums for decades. Then, in the 1980s, the university placed the tsantsa in storage. ...

In February 2019, the scientists scanned the head using computed X-ray tomography (CT) and built 3D digital models — with and without hair. To verify that the Mercer tsantsa was both human and ceremonial, the researchers consulted a checklist of 33 criteria from prior studies of these objects. The list described features such as the color, density and texture of the skin; the structure of facial features and anatomy; and signs of traditional fabrication, including stitching style, charcoal traces in the head cavity, and a hole in the top of the head for attaching a cord.

Morphology of the ears, mouth and nose, as well as human head lice eggs in the hair, confirmed that the tsantsa was human. Attributes such as the mouth-stitching technique, overall skin texture and a hole at the top — a detail only visible on the CT scans, and something that is usually absent in synthetic or commercial tsantsas — showed that the tsantsa was made traditionally by hand and not commercially produced ...

FULL STORY:
https://www.livescience.com/ecuadorian-shrunken-head-repatriated.html

PUBLISHED STUDY:
Byron, C.D., Kiefer, A.M., Thomas, J. et al.
The authentication and repatriation of a ceremonial tsantsa to its country of origin (Ecuador).
Herit Sci 9, 50 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00518-z
FULL STUDY ARTICLE accessible at:
https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-021-00518-z

 

[Nosmo King]

This Live Science article describes the process of authenticating an Ecuadorian tsantsa as a cultural artifact (as opposed to a commercial product) and its repatriation. The article also includes some details about the head-shrinking procedure.

FULL STORY:
https://www.livescience.com/ecuadorian-shrunken-head-repatriated.html

PUBLISHED STUDY:
Byron, C.D., Kiefer, A.M., Thomas, J. et al.
The authentication and repatriation of a ceremonial tsantsa to its country of origin (Ecuador).
Herit Sci 9, 50 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00518-z
FULL STUDY ARTICLE accessible at:
https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-021-00518-z

Surely the head should be returned to the descendands of the victim for proper burial

 

[Druk]

This is for sale in Toronto $19,250 but the condition looks terrible.

 

[SimonBurchell]

This is for sale in Toronto $19,250 but the condition looks terrible.
View attachment 72142View attachment 72143View attachment 72145

Obviously originally an animal, not human.

 

[Druk]

Obviously originally an animal, not human.

Genuine,it’s from the skull store,they guarantee it’s real.

 

[SimonBurchell]

Genuine,it’s from the skull store,they guarantee it’s real.

But real what? It has fur on its face.

 

[Druk]

But real what? It has fur on its face.

Real human,or used to be before his head was lopped off,I have been in the skull store before,always interesting to peruse the items in there.

 

[escargot]

Real human,or used to be before his head was lopped off,I have been in the skull store before,always interesting to peruse the items in there.

It's not human. It has fur.

 

[Druk]

It's not human. It has fur.

Ok,you know better than a store that deals in such things and guarantees the authenticity of their items

 

[SimonBurchell]

I believe sloths have been used on the past to produce halfway passable shrunken heads. Irrespective of the "guaranteed authenticity", that's an animal, not a human.

 

[Steven]

At least they washed his hair.

 

[Druk]

The “fake” real one (apparently) I originally put up is just under 20 thousand dollars,the genuine fakes are 85 bucks

I believe sloths have been used on the past to produce halfway passable shrunken heads. Irrespective of the "guaranteed authenticity", that's an animal, not a human.

sloths were but rarely,mainly goat and monkey,but I think the guy who has been in business for years selling such things might,just might know the difference.

 

[escargot]

Ok,you know better than a store that deals in such things and guarantees the authenticity of their items

I have a very nice bridge that might interest you.

 

[Sillyhuron]

19 & a quarter grand?
Obviously the Skull Store has a head for figures.

 

[Steven]

'These were once living people and deserve to be treated with respect. Order before Christmas, and we'll throw in his shrunken balls - free!'

 

[Druk]

I have a very nice bridge that might interest you.

I ain’t that gullible,been around a bit,but I still say that’s genuine,the store is long established,his reputation rests on selling authentic pieces.