An ancient skull elongated by cranial deformation or head flattening, displayed in the Museo Nacional de Antropología (National Museum of Anthropology) in Mexico City.
In this gruesome ritual, the shape of an infant’s head was altered by applying force to its pliable skull, either by binding or wedging it between two pieces of wood.
The custom was observed by the Mayans and Incas, along with many other ancient cultures around the world.
Although the reasons for deforming a child’s skull have been lost in the mists of time, it’s most likely that an unusually shaped head served as an indicator of ethnic affiliation, kin categorisation or geographic origin.
