This 1200 year old skull originates from the Tuanacen tribe of Bolivia. The practice of head binding to create an elongated skull and trephination date back nearly 9000 years. Trephination was the process of removing a section of skull to relieve pressure caused by the binding process or to allow access to the brain. Surprisingly, patients survived these primitive surgeries as is evidenced by the healed bone edges.
Manbetu male, showing extreme fronto-occipital deformation, produced by tightly binding the head with fiber bands while the infant's skull bones are still soft. The skull must grow in some direction, so it grows upward, causing the skull to elongate and narrowing the eyes so they can hardly be opened. (The University of Alabama Museums WPA/TVA Photograph Archive)
Cranial binding is the reshaping of the skull using binding to deform and alter growth. This is usually done either by wrapping with rope or cloth on its own or splinted with wooden or similar devices. The end effect can be elongated skulls, sloping foreheads, and even radical effects such as bi-lobed (heart shaped) skulls.
When an individual is young (a baby), the skull is quite malleable. By restricting the growth of the skull and by putting selective pressure on it by binding it or strapping it against boards, its shape can be permanently altered. This is believed to be one of the first body modifications practised by humans, and can still be observed in parts of Africa and South America (most commonly Peru). Skull shaping is not effective or safe on adults.
It is believed that the shaping was done to identify the owner as a member of a certain group, but in part because Christian missionaries effectively destroyed the cultural records of most of the groups practising this activity, the specifics are very much up for debate.
Please note that attempting to shape your child's head is (a) dangerous, and (b) illegal, and that an adult skull can not be shaped because it has already hardened — so this modification is most likely going to disappear and be forgotten to history. That said, short of injury from the activity being mis-applied, there is no evidence that this altered brain function in any way.
It should be noted for collectors that shaped skulls are not difficult to obtain, but they are almost always of grave-robbed origins — so please realize that by trying to get these skulls you may be contributing to the desecration of graves and/or damaging archeological records.
Sat Apr 22, 2006 11:28 am
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madthumbs
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8244 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
Aztalan Skull in Wisconsin
Anomalous Skulls Located in South American Museums.
"Found in 1880's later claimed to have been stolen, never seen again."
Probably originally used as a Religious tool of control, and still being used as a tool by some Christians:
"There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown." Gen 6:4
Just do a web search on "Annunaki" or "Nephilim" and see all the Christian propaganda about these skulls.
I read about the Annunaki and somewhere on the web someone mentioned how there were more than one race of them or something along the lines of that. They said something about there being Reptiles and another race called the Vulurites.
Anyways, I have a book named Flying Serpents and Dragons: The Story of Mankinds Reptilian Past and I've read a few pages so far. For those who scoff at the idea of an extraterrestrial race being the origins of humans, this book is a must for you.
Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:14 pm
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madthumbs
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8244 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
I don't scoff at it, but most of the attention surrounding it is just misleading Christian propaganda.
