Centuries of Skulls

COMMENT BOOKS & ARTS ANTHROPOLOGY the heads between planks to force them into more flattened ‘table’ or ‘tower’ forms. Europe had its own skull cult. During the Middle Ages, ancestral skulls in parts Centuries of skulls of Alpine Europe were sometimes painted with floral patterns — a token of respect for Alison Abbott enjoys a German exhibition charting bodies that had been disinterred to make how the human head is revered by cultures worldwide. room in cemeteries for the newly dead. Skulls appear constantly in post-Renaissance Chris- kulls hold an Schädelkult The oldest object, found tian art and architecture as abiding fascina- (Skull Cult) in 1997 near Koblenz in a reminder that death can H. MAERTENS tion for the liv- REM Museum of World northern Germany, is a pounce unexpectedly, so it Sing. From goth rings Cultures, Mannheim, Neanderthal skullcap was wise not to jeopardize a Germany. and Mexican Day of Until 29 April 2012. — apparently used place in heaven by deviat- the Dead parapher- as a bowl — with ing from the path of nalia to artist Damien an estimated age righteousness. A Hirst’s diamond-studded platinum cast, of 170,000 years. carved bust of the skulls are stark and emptied reminders of But even stranger Virgin Mary, for mortality — and repositories for meaning. exhibits abound. example, doubles A German exhibition now reveals that skull Skulls of respected up as a skull reliquary. cults have existed in nearly every culture since tribe members Schädelkult acts as a prehistoric times. Schädelkult (Skull Cult), at might be made reminder that West- the Museum of World Cultures in Mann into jewellery to ern anthropologists heim, one of the Reiss Engelhorn Museums be worn by their have been collecting, (REM), shocks and delights with its tales of descendants; deco- measuring and inter- how tribes around the world and across time rated with carving, preting skulls for some prepared and used the skulls and heads of feathers or shells and 200 years. The exten- honoured ancestors or feared enemies. brought out in rain- sive ethnological col- The exhibition hints at why the skull so making rituals; or lection of German artist grips our imagination. It is the scaffold- modelled in clay to and Darwinist Gabriel ing for faces of those once loved, feared or create a true or idealized A Peruvian trophy head from AD 100–600. von Max (1840–1915) respected — and a casing for their psyche, portrait. spawned this exhibition memories and social power. It is the starkest Some African tribes, believing that the when several hundred of its skulls, thought proof that an individual is no longer here. power of their slain enemies lived on in their to have been destroyed in the Second World Every culture tries to rationalize death; skulls, made musical instruments from them War, were rediscovered in 2008 and returned many have tried to beat it. The skull has had for use in battle or to weaken hostile neigh- to the REM. different symbolic roles in these endeavours. bours. They detached the lower jaws to make Von Max had intended his collection to trumpets and used the craniums as drums. celebrate the diversity of humanity. But many Some of the most famous trophy heads collections were exploited in the nineteenth were not skulls at all. The Jivaro people of the and early twentieth centuries for dubious Andes developed a unique way of processing phrenological and anthropometric studies. the decapitated heads of their enemies: after These fed erroneous theories claiming, for carefully skinning them, they would fill the example, that particular races were inferior. skins with hot sand to shrink them, closing The exhibition confronts this unscientific the eyes and mouth with bamboo needles research, along with the sensitive question of to stop the soul from escaping. Wearing a whether present-day requests for skull repa- shrunken head was thought to bring all- triation should be heeded. The curators argue round success — in health, fertility and that this should only happen when living hunting. The Maori of New Zealand relatives request skulls, or if they are proved to J. CHRISTEN/REISS-ENGELHORN-MUSEUMS mummified their ancestors’ heads — the have been acquired through murder. ornately tattooed head of a chieftain, The REM Museum of World Cultures brought to Europe by James Cook in is well equipped for forensic analysis and, 1770, is among the finest exhibits. together with collaborators, has carried out The practice of artificially tests on some of the exhibited skulls to date deforming skulls was surpris- and characterize them. Some of the results, ingly widespread, from central including facial reconstructions, are dis- Asia to central Europe. Startling played on screens around the exhibition. examples include those created The last showcase in the exhibition is by binding the heads of young packed with contemporary skull-bedecked children in bandages or bon- objects — from furniture to a saucy mini- nets to force them to grow into a dirndl costume. Skull cults today ooze an spherical shape, or by squashing irony that they never had in the past. ■ A shell-decorated ancestral skull of Alison Abbott is Senior European the Asmat people of New Guinea. Correspondent at Nature. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

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