Trophee skull

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Description

human skull with lower jaw, polished, incised ornamental and floral decorations, the lower jaw fixed by rattan, min. dam., small missing parts (teeth), socle;
in former times some of the Dayak people were dreaded headhunters. For religious reasons they used to keep the enemy skulls and display them in their naves. By headhunting the Dayak warrior proved his virility and was able to take possession of the killed enemies soul. A wide-spread motif for headhunting was the animistic belief, that the slained had to follow his murder in the herafter as slave.

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Littérature comparée

Headhunters and Woodcarvers, from the Francois Coppens Collection, Arnhem 2000, p. 67, ill. 66

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