‘Alien’ skull of toddler is actually evidence of long-standing practice of head shaping
When installing a water pipeline in Argentina last month, workers fell on the skull of a child who was buried at least 700 years ago. Archaeological discovery quickly drawn the attention of the media due to the asymmetry of the skull, making comparisons with the extraterrestrials.
But the flattening at the back of the skull, which belonged to a child from 3 to 4 years old, is simply the result of the cultural practice of shaping the head, Cristian Sebastián Meliándirector of Provincial Directorate of Anthropology In Catamarca, Argentina told Live Science in an e-mail translated.
The skull was found on May 27 in the city of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca in northwestern Argentina. When archaeologists studied the pits carried out in the infrastructure project, they found broken and burned blade remains, as well as a ceramic vessel typical of the pottery of the Incstant Occupation there between 1430 and 1530, said Melián.
But the child’s skull was found several meters away with the rest of the skeleton, which was placed in the grave in a fetal position. Although the child does not have serious goods, the fragments of pottery in the dirt suggested a date of death around 1100 to 1300.
Archaeologists have not seen any trauma on the child’s skeleton, but they noted “the pronounced cultural cranial alteration of the oblique tabular type,” said Melián.
The practice of shaping the head, or cranial modificationDates back to thousands of years and was found in all regions of the world. While some cultures are used for a long time fabric sections Rolled around a baby’s head to create an elongated shape, others applied front or back padding of the baby’s head to create a more flat shape. Nowadays, often for medical purposes, parents can use a special helmet To make sure their baby has a round symmetrical head.
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The child’s skull found in San Fernando was probably shaped using the padding to encourage the “oblique tabular” shape, which is flat or sloping at the front and back of the skull. This practice can cause the sides of the skull and seem swollen.
Most scholars of the formatting of the old head Conversely, the practice has had little or no negative health consequences. Instead, experts say that the practice was linked to social identity or at Children’s education preferences.
Currently, the provincial direction of anthropology has more than 100 skulls of ancient people in its skeletal collection, said Melián, and evidence of the formatting of the head are extremely common.
“About 90% of them have an erect or oblique tabular shape” to their skulls, said Melián.
