More on the "Elongated head culture of Europe"

Angela

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It's absolutely hideous, imo. Just as bad as the plate deformed lips of Africa and the deformed "lotus petal" (there's a euphemism for rotting for you) feet of China. I also don't believe it had no effect on mental functioning. It makes tatooing and piercings look absolutely trivial.

627-elongated-skulls-bavaria-2.jpg



They did it in ancient Peru as well.

mJ2IpR5.jpg

As many may remember, we have the dna of quite a few of the women to whom this was done, some being EEF like women from the Balkans, although the practice seems to have come from the east.

See:
https://www.archaeology.org/news/8667-200501-hungary-elongated-heads

"SZEKSZÁRD, HUNGARY—A new study led by Corina Knipper of the Curt Engelhorn Center of Archaeometry suggests that central Europeans who practiced skull-binding lived alongside other cultures in the Roman province of Pannonia Valeria, in what is now western Hungary, during the political instability of the fifth century A.D., according to a Live Science report. The researchers divided the remains of individuals from 96 graves in the Mözs cemetery, 51 of which had elongated skulls, into three generations who lived between A.D. 430 and 470. The oldest remains in the cemetery were interred in Roman-style graves. The middle group was buried in a different manner, and the last burials in the cemetery combined practices of Roman and other traditions. Modified skulls were found in all three groups. About 30 percent of the oldest burials had elongated heads, while about 65 percent of the middle group and 70 percent of the last group showed signs of head binding. The researchers noted that the placement of grooves in the skulls changed over time, indicating that different binding techniques were used among different groups. Chemical analysis of the bones showed that some of the later residents had been born near the cemetery, while others had settled there after growing up somewhere else. The researchers concluded that residents of Pannonia Valeria mingled and adopted each other’s cultural habits as the Roman Empire collapsed. "
 
The practise was, afaik, newer a truly European custom. It was coming from East Asian (Mongoloid) steppe people and for the time in question especially with Huns and later with Avars. There were similar finds made in Bavaria with Germanic men without skull deformation and Balkan women with deformed skulls. The practise could be very differently applied. Sometimes the result would have been just a somewhat longer, but relatively normal looking head, in others extreme "tower skulls" like the one in the image you posted.
There were also Germanic people, especially women, with a skull deformation of the extreme Asian fashion. More in this article with a good reconstruction of a Gothic woman with the deformation:

ElongatedGoth_0.jpg

https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/ElongatedGoth_0.jpg

From the article:
?It is conceivable that the Germanic peoples adopted the habits of the Huns (including intentional cranial deformation) in the first place because they wanted to be integrated into the Hun Empire and adapt to the conquerors in the hope of subsistence and advance,? wrote the study authors.


While the study sheds new light on the custom of cranial deformation in Europe, and specifically Hungary, it is our opinion that the authors have not adequately explained why so many groups of people went to such a great effort to transform their skull shape. In order to uncover this answer, it is necessary to trace back to the most ancient origins of the custom. Were the first groups to modify their skulls emulating an elite group of people that came before them? If so, who?

Article:
https://www.ancient-origins.net/new...gins-elongated-skulls-carpathian-basin-001530

This is the reconstruction of a Hunnish woman with the extreme Asian skull deformation:
https://twitter.com/caitlinrgreen/status/587339573375696896

More moderate to extreme forms of artificial head deformation were practised up to recent times in various places of the world, especially the tropical zone and here in particular in Papua-New Guinea:
https://historycollection.co/embell...-10-most-bizarre-fashion-trends-in-history/7/

There are even films around, unfortunately I found none online, in which the practise was documented. The mother or relatives were just binding the child's head regularly. Its a fairly simple technique to apply.
 
Only recently did I learn of this phenomena being part of European cultures... I always thought it was exclusive to Peru and surrounding regions.

There's a museum in South America full of examples, and frankly the heads are enormous. So big that I had trouble believing they were 100% human. A researcher (think his name is Brian Forester) has led tours to various sites containing remains and also incredibly advanced stone work. He has been trying to genetically test some samples from Peru for years and finally results came back... if I remember correctly the maternal haplogroup was H and he linked population back to Caucus region in Europe. Very odd because these people where in Peru a looooong time before Columbus, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, and friends made it to new world. Even before the Norse made it to Canada.

Also, I remember watching a researcher talking about cranium capacity, and said the museum specimens had approximately 25% more volume than modern humans, and that even with extreme head binding-- it was impossible to increase volume of skull, only shape of skull. Adds to part of the mystery.

I've worked with stone a lot, and I find the work in South America more advanced than even that of Egypt. Especially when considering these ancient workers had no pack animals (only lamas) and didn't have the wheel (not that a wheel would be of much help in mountainous Andes). Would have needed serious brain power to make what we see today.
 
Elongated heads in Europe?
I always heard about the conspiracy theories of Sumerian statues that depicted people with protuberant heads.

The only thing I see interesting with this, is the fact that it's Neolithic.
 
It seems (before proof of the countrary) that these deformations of heads took foot inEurope with Huns, and were adopted more or less by Gepides who were in contact with them (allied).
 

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