While setting up a water pipeline in Argentina last month, workers stumbled over the skull of a child buried at least 700 years ago. Archaeological discoveries quickly gained media attention due to the asymmetry of the skull, drawing comparisons with aliens.
However, the flattening on the back of the skull, which belonged to children aged 3-4, is simply a result of the cultural practice of head shaping.
The skull was discovered on May 27th in the town of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca in northwestern Argentina. When archaeologists looked into the pits created in the infrastructure project, they discovered the artifacts of the broken and burnt llama, along with a typical ceramic vessel from the Inca occupation between 1430 and 1530.
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However, the child’s skull was found several feet away with the remaining skeletons placed in the grave at the fetal position. Although the children did not have any serious items, the stained ceramic fragments suggested a death date between 1100 and 1300.
Archaeologists did not see any trauma in the child’s skeleton, but noted “notable cultural brain changes in the oblique tabular form,” Merian said.
The practice of head shaping or skull modification dates back thousands of years and has been discovered in every part of the world. Some cultures used long fabrics wrapped around the baby’s head to create elongated shapes, while others applied padding to the front or back of the baby’s head to create a flat shape. Currently, for medical purposes, parents can adopt special helmets to ensure that the baby has a round, symmetrical head.
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The skull of a child found in San Fernando may have been shaped using padding. This practice causes the sides of the skull to expand and appear to have bulged.
Most ancient head shaping scholars agree that this practice has little negative health effects, if any. Instead, experts say this practice is related to social identity or parenting preferences.
Currently, the State Directorate of Anthropology has over 100 skulls from ancient people in its skeletal collection, Mean said, and the evidence of head shaping is very common.
“Around 90% of them have an upright or oblique shape on their skull,” Mean said.
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