Shrunken head

A shrunken head is a human head that has been prepared for display.

The manufacture of shrunken heads was formerly the specialty of a number of ethnic groups that practiced headhunting, most notably the Shuar (formerly known as Jívaro) people of present day Ecuador and Peru. Among the Shuar, a shrunken head is known as a tsantsa, also transliterated tzantza.

After World War II, the shrunken head of a Polish prisoner was found at the Buchenwald concentration camp, where it was displayed in the camp centre to terrify the prisoners. The "shrunken head of Buchenwald," as it was known, was presented as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials by U.S. Executive Trial Counsel Thomas J. Dodd.

How it was done


The skull was removed from the head: the maker would make an incision on the back of the neck and proceeded to remove all the skin and flesh from the cranium. Afterwards, they sewed the eyelids shut and held the mouth together with splinters. Fat from the flesh of the head was removed. The flesh was then boiled in water in which a number of herbs containing tannins were steeped, then dried with hot rocks and sand, while being molded by the preparer to retain its human feature. The lips were sewn shut, and various decorative beads were added to the head.

Shrunken heads are known for their mandibular prognathism, facial distortion and shrinkage of the lateral sides of the forehead; these are artifacts of the shrinking process.

The process to reduce the size of the heads was accompanied by a ritual, which culminated with la Fiesta de la Victoria (Spanish for "victory party") celebrated by the entire community.

Why it was done
The practice of making shrunken heads originally had religious significance; the heads were believed to harness the spirits of those enemies and compel them to serve the shrinker.

They believed in the existence of three fundamental spirits:
 * Wakani - innate to humans thus surviving their death, later turning into vapor.
 * Arutam - literally "vision" or "power," protects humans from a violent death and assures their survival.
 * Muisak - vengeful spirit, which surfaces when an arutam spirit-carrying person is murdered.

To block the last spirit from using its powers, they decided to sever their enemy's heads and shrink them. It also served as a way of warning those enemies.

Trade in shrunken heads
At first, cultural restrictions meant that deaths from traditional conflict were relatively rare, and few shrunken heads were made. When westerners created an economic demand for shrunken heads, however, there was a sharp increase in the rate of killings in an effort to supply collectors and tourists . A stop was put to this when the Peruvian and Ecuadorian governments outlawed the traffic in heads.

Thor Heyerdahl recounts in Kon-Tiki (1947) the various problems of getting into the Jívaro (Shuar) area in Ecuador to get balsa wood for his expedition boat. Local people would not guide his team into the forest for fear of becoming themselves shrunken heads.

Currently, replica shrunken heads are manufactured as curios for the tourist trade. These are made from leather and animal hides carved to resemble the originals. Replica shrunken heads, due to their provocative nature, are also popular in the hotrod culture, where they are often seen hanging from rearview mirrors as ornaments.

Shrunken heads in popular culture

 * In 1975, Vincent Price promoted a toy kit called Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture, by Whiting Crafts, a division of Milton Bradley. It was frequently advertised in comic books.


 * Maurice Santos has written a mystery called Tsantsa with the plot based on a shrunken head.


 * R.L. Stine's Goosebumps, How I Got My Shrunken Head, tells about a boy's adventure in the jungle with a shrunken head with magic powers.


 * "Mister Taylor," a short story by Augusto Monterroso, uses shrunken heads as a comparison to the economic imperialism of the United States in Latin America.


 * James Rollins's novel Amazonia features a Shuar woman skilled at the lost art of tsantza.


 * Shrunken heads appear at various points in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, though they were not mentioned in the source book. One of them has a Jamaican English accent.


 * One of the ghosts in the film Beetlejuice has a shrunken head still attached to its ghostly body.


 * In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Captain Jack Sparrow's father shows Jack a shrunken head in the response to Jack's question, "How's mum?"


 * In the video game Halo 2 there is an emblem entitled "Tsantsa" as an option resembling a shrunken head.


 * In the video game The Secret of Monkey Island a (living) shrunken head will help you navigate the catacombs


 * In the film PeeWee's Big Adventure, the magic/joke shop operator offers PeeWee a shrunken head.


 * In Blizzard's "Diablo II" necromancers can wield a "Shrunken Head" as a shield.


 * In Blizzard's "World of Warcraft", NPC trolls create shrunken heads as part of their shamanistic rituals.


 * In the film The Mummy Returns Jonathan says "I say chaps, look at this. Shrunken heads. I'd love to know how they do that." when he comes across a hut filled with shrunken heads