![]() Europeans had developed a fascination for the tsantsa in the 1850s. After contacting the Ecuadorian Embassy, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and the National Cultural Heritage Institute, the Mercer scientists agreed to first authenticate the artifact.ĭoing so was easier said than done. He traded some coins, a pocket knife, and a military insignia for the tsantsa.Įighty years later, scientists at Mercer University reached out to Ecuadorian officials for guidance on what to do. “I badly wanted one of those heads and by motions and gestures got the idea across.” “Anyway, they had two shrunken human heads,” Harrison, who later became a biology professor at Mercer University, wrote in his memoirs. ![]() These war trophies were meant to trap the spirit of the enemy and give power to his killer. They then molded the skin as it dried and shrunk. Victors removed the skull, brain, and facial muscles before sewing the eyes and lips shut. Tsantsas were created from the severed heads of vanquished foes. YouTube The shrunken head was used as a prop in the film Wise Blood. ![]() “When this was collected, science was different, everything was new… but almost 80 years later, we recognize its cultural importance, along with the science.” An Army Air Force officer named James Harrison had collected it in 1942, long before the establishment of regulations meant to stop the trafficking of cultural artifacts and human remains. The Mercer scientists also determined the head had come from Ecuador. O’Connor had lived near Macon, and the movie was filmed nearby. In the late 1970s, the university loaned it to director John Huston to use as a prop in his 1979 comedy Wise Blood, based on the Flannery O’Connor novel. Measuring about five inches high, the head had bounced between different university museum displays until the 1980s. Byron, overseeing the transfer of various taxidermy specimens to a new science building, realized that the Ecuadorian shrunken head needed a second look.īyron and his colleagues didn’t know much about the head, but started piecing its story together. Mercer University Mercer University biologist Craig Byron used a 33-point checklist to authenticate the shrunken head.Īfter years in storage, the head was first rediscovered by Keifer’s co-author, a Mercer biologist named Craig Byron.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |