OOAK Trophy skull mixed media sculpture. Asmat and Dayak inspired reproduction. Finished piece as pictured.
 
Approximately 9.5" x 6.5" x 10.5"  Comprised with real humanely sourced horse hair, real bones, caracoles, wood and bone beads, jute rope and scaled human high quality PVC skull mounted on wood plaque.
 
ABOUT:

The Dayak, Ifugao, and Naga human skulls are head hunting trophies. The Asmat, Vanuatu, and Palawan human skulls are also considered "ancestor" skulls. The difference is; head hunted skulls are acquired from enemy victims

Ancestor skulls are collected and venerated to remember deceased family members.

The Ifugao collect bones of the dead relatives, wrap them in tribal textiles, and store them in the rafters under their huts.
 
In South America the heads were often preserved, as by the Jívaro, by removing the skull and packing the skin with hot sand, thus shrinking it to the size of the head of a small monkey but preserving the features intact. There, again,
headhunting was probably associated with cannibalism in a ceremonial form.

Despite the prohibition of headhunting activities, scattered reports of such practices continued well into the 20th century.

Head hunting may have originally evolved from cannibalism. Many people believe that the head represents the core of the personality and to take it is therefore both an act of violence against and an insult to the victim. It is a common belief that the soul is concentrated in the head and that taking an enemy's head therefore weakens the enemy's entire community. In many headhunting societies taking a head is considered a rite of manhood, denoting the transition from childhood to adulthood, and young men may not marry until they have taken one. Victorious hunters claim the heads as trophies and display them prominently to increase their personal reputations and that of the tribe as a whole, with the added bonus of helping to intimidate current and future enemies. Headhunting has a long history as a supremely effective weapon and those that practice it often have extremely fierce reputation.

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