How About A Cranial Modified Elongated Head For A Fashion Statement?

For millennia, humans have bothered about their body aesthetics and have from time to time altered their body to what they thought made them look better. One of the most ancient of such body modification practices was that of changing the shape of the skull. This process is technically known as artificial cranial deformation and this process would be initiated very early by manipulating the soft skulls of the babies. 

The reasons why this was done were varied. It was either associated with nobility, beauty and intelligence. Probably because it really did not look any nobler nor did it add to the beauty or intelligence it could not make it to the modern world. However, we can never guarantee it not making a comeback as people do seem to resort t strange methods in the name of fashion.
During the course of archaeological surveys many such skulls have been discovered from time to time. Like for example, a 1600 year old skull was found in the Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Sun. It belonged to a woman whose skull was artificially elongated and experts believe that the "Woman of Tlailotlacan" was a foreign aristocrat. Artificially deformed craniums were common in the Mayan of the Southern Mexico and Central America. Anthropologist also had discovered nine skulls that reflect artificial cranial deformation amongst the Huns who lived in Hungary's Carpathian Basin dating back to the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Experts also believe that the purpose of deformation was for two reasons one it was an indicator of social status and second a racial identifier.
Archaeologist has unearthed three ancient skeletons with artificially deformed skulls. Two of the skulls were pointy and they were melded into a different shape most probably for racial identification purpose. These three skeletons were found in a burial pit in Croatia's Hermanov vinograd archaeological site in the year 2013. These skeletons were analyzed using various methods which included DNA analysis and radiographic imaging. Radiographic imaging helps to view the inside of an object, in this case the skulls. The result revealed that the skulls belonged to males of age 12 and 16. These skulls also revealed that these young males were malnourished, however, that does not necessarily mean that they died because of malnourishment. According to senior author Mario Novak, a bioarchaeologist at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, Croatia, these young males could have had some kind of disease that might have killed them quickly without leaving any traces on their bones. Novak and his team are hopeful that they may find more such samples of cranial deformation from Europe to study and understand the phenomenon on a larger scale.

By: Madhuchanda Saxena
Content: https://www.livescience.com/ancient-skulls-croatia-artificially-deformed.html