Shrunken head "tsantsa" ·  South America, Ecuador · ID: 3034094

Description

dark brown hair, eye brows and -lashes recognizable, the skin leather-like and darkened, the lips stitched up with cord, good condition;
shrunken heads are trophees (of head hunting) made of the heads of enemies. A technique spread with some people of South America. The skull bones were removed and the remaining skin was cooked together with the scalp. Afterwards the skin shell was filled with stones, sand or hot ashes, which made it shrunk and mummifying. The facial features were remodeled. Finally it was smoked for several hours which preserved it and produced the dark skin colour.
The primitive people believed that the life force of the killed person is passed over to the owner of the “tsantsa”. Furthermore this treatment was looked upon as the ultimate humiliation of the victim and completion of revenge.

Littérature comparée

Castner, James L.; Shrunken heads, Gainesville 2002, p. 77