Artificially deformed skull of an adult woman. Permanent binding during childhood caused the elongation of the braincase and depressions in the bone.
Image: © Balázs G. Mende. Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
Skull flattening seems to have been very widespread, more than I ever thought.
Another piece of evidence supporting my “Crazy People Did It” theory of weirdness in archaeological finds.
According to mtDNA analysis of my genes, I am apparently the descendant of some Alan women. Since both sides of my family are originally from Normandy and Brittany, I was wondering how this could be.
It turns out that Aetius ("Last of the Romans") settled a group of Alans in what is now southern Normandy as foederati to help him keep order in Armorica (Brittany).
Hi mom!
Our youngest kid had a similar shaped head after the doc used a vacuum to suck her out of the womb. Quickly reshaped to normal....doesn’t seem to have held her back any. Still kid her about her pointy head.
Every time I see a skull that’s undergone “shaping”, I wonder...
What about the trigeminal nerve?
Was trigeminal neuralgia used as a “failure to adapt” elimination from the gene pool before reaching reproducing age?
I have a theory. There was a residue of memory passed down from when people first originated from aliens, aliens who had sex with neanderthals. This memory, probably passed through their genes, was thought to be “sacred” and to show their respect to their alien ancestors they created these pointy skulls. Some also created flat skulls of their neanderthal ancestors too.
Can this be proven through Hegelian logic? Perhaps not. But there was an Hegelian professor who died with an elongated head in Berlin in 1833 at the height of European Civilization (as claimed by Hegel’s understanding of Absolute Spirit). He claimed that the elongated Norman Cathedrals in Europe reached up to the stars and God. Could God be aliens? Interesting question for our age.
Moops
I wonder what impact the deformation had on cogitation?
Every time I see a skull with this deformation caused by skull wrapping some questions occur to me:
1. Why does this cultural practice appear in separate and remote parts of the world?
1/A. How does this cultural practice appear in separate and remote parts of the world? Presumably there is no interaction between a remote area of Pannonia, Africa, and the AltoPlano of Peru.
2.So is this just an impulse built into humans genes? “Hey guys, I got an idea. Let’s wrap all the kids skulls as soon as they are born so they elongate like Coneheads.” Why would this become a desirable social convention in a localized area? Is imitation the highest form of flattery?
3. Saggital sutures: For all known humans, At birth, the bones of the skull do not meet. If certain bones of the skull grow too fast then “premature closure” of the sutures may occur. This can result in skull deformities. If the sagittal suture closes early the skull becomes long, narrow, and wedge-shaped, a condition called scaphocephaly.
OK, this CAN be a natural process, BUT why would it occur in an entire village, tribe, culture, or whatever. Assuming this happens naturally to one member of a tribe, would the other tribesmen seek to emulate it by binding the heads of their own children in imitation?
