A number of peoples still have a rather strange
in our opinion, the custom of head deformation
With the help of various tricks, which
boil down to limiting the developmental possibilities of the cranium, representatives of
these peoples achieve an unnatural head shape. Since the growth of the cranium
is much slower than that of other bones of the skeleton, and with
age the bones of the skull become less susceptible to external influences, in
order to obtain a deformed shape, “sculptors of living heads” have to
“work with the material” for a rather long time and start from early
childhood “blanks . Below are pictures of such head deformation by the tribes of the
Congo, Sudan and the New Hebrides (Western Pacific):
As archaeological finds show, this custom was
widespread and goes back to ancient times.
For example, traces of the practice of deformation can be traced on both American
continents. In North America, skull deformation can be traced among the Maya and
various other tribes. Moreover, it was practiced until very recently
It is characteristic that in some places the practice of deformation
skulls were very widespread. For example, on the artificial island of
Haina, now separated from the Yucatan Peninsula by a narrow strip of water from 10 to 100
meters, in one of the burial grounds out of 24 surviving skulls of adults, 13 were
male - in eight cases there is deliberate cranial deformation. 11
were female, of which only four cases have deliberate
deformity of the skull. In general, the ratio of deformed and undeformed
skulls is 12:12. In most cases, the deformity is traditional
for the Maya frontal-occipital in nature, but sometimes it even reaches the nose.
The practice of
deformation was also very widespread in South America, which can be found in a number of cultures of this
continent - Chavin, Lauricoca, Paracas, Nazca, Puerto Moorin, Incas, etc.
There is a version that even the well-known moai of
Easter Island depict figures with an elongated head, and their strange reddish
"headdresses" are actually just hair, under which this
elongated head shape is hidden.
Promotional video:
Thus, the practice of deforming the head has (and
had in the past) a very wide geography. At the same time, a certain
pattern can be traced: with all the variety of methods and forms of influence on the shape of the
cranium (from tight dressings-caps to special structural
wooden devices), the desire to achieve only one
result of deformation is clearly dominant - an elongated head.
A quite natural question arises: what are the origins of such a
massive (and uniform in all regions!) Striving for an elongated
head shape ?.. The question is far from idle, given the data of modern medicine
that such an effect on the head, in addition to the inconveniences and
unpleasant sensations caused contributes to recurrent headaches and
seriously increases the risk of negative consequences for mental and physical
health in general.
The official history does not give any exhaustive
answer to this question, attributing everything only to a cult ceremony with an incomprehensible
motivation. However, even with all the real power of the influence of religion and cult on the
entire way of life of people, it is clearly not enough. There
must be a very powerful incentive for such a “fanatical desire for ugliness”. And the incentive is
quite stable, considering the ubiquity and duration of this
"tradition".
Recently, more and more researchers are leaning towards the
neurophysiological version. Changing the shape of the skull also affects
various areas of the cerebral cortex, which contributes to the change in certain
characteristics and skills of a person. Serious research in this area has not even
begun yet. But even without them, among the tribes still practicing deformation of the skull, something has not been noticed any special positive shifts in psychic
abilities. And the clergymen (shamans and priests), for whom the ability, for example, to fall into a trance or enter into meditation, is very important, do not at all strive to deform the skull.
An alternative to academic science version was voiced by Daniken - a
supporter of the version of the real existence of the ancient "gods" who were
representatives of an alien civilization and, quite possibly, had
some physiological differences from the representatives of the earthly race. In
this version, the gods had an elongated head shape, and people tried to become like the
gods. Are there any objective grounds for this option?..
It turns out that there is.
Among the elongated skulls in South America there have been found
those that may well pretend to be the skulls … of the "gods" themselves!
These skulls were photographed by Robert Connolly during
his travels around the world, during which he collected various materials about
ancient civilizations. The discovery of these skulls came as a surprise to him
. Robert Conolly published photographs of these skulls, as well as the results of his
research on a separate CD-ROM, titled "The Search for Ancient Wisdom" in 1995
The first thing that catches your eye is the abnormal shape and
size, which have nothing to do with the skull of a modern person except for the most
general features (a "box" for the brain, jaw, holes for the eyes and nose) …
The fact is that during the deliberate deformation of
human skulls, it is possible to change the shape of the skull, but not its volume. The
above photographs show skulls that are
almost twice the size of an ordinary human skull (you can see this in the drawings next to the photo)!
(For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that among people
there are cases of enlarged cranium in some
diseases. However, with a similar degree of deviation in head size from
normal size, people are close to the state of a "vegetable" and do not
live up to adulthood.)
Unfortunately, although for those who admit the possibility of the
real existence of the ancient "gods" in the flesh, the version voiced by Daniken is
straightforward, it does not stray too far from interpreting this strange
tradition as a cult ceremony …
Of course, imitation of a real prototype is much better
consistent with the fact of uniformity of the deformation shape over a vast territory, covering almost all continents, rather than the desire to imitate an invented
cult image, but is it still possible to go a little further?..
Let us turn to another phenomenon, also associated with the
impact on the cranium, namely, to craniotomy since ancient
times.
The fact of successful trepanning operations in
ancient times (the Daily Telegraph recently reported on the discovery of a
skull with traces of trepanation on the banks of the Thames, dating from 1750-1610 BC) is already considered
reliably established. The fact is that, firstly, the nature of the holes during
trepanation differs sharply from the wounds inflicted upon impact with any weapon -
there are no cracks in the skull around the hole. And secondly, it is possible to
determine definitely the patient's survival after such an operation. Surgeons and
anthropologists know that in the case of a successful trepanation, that is, when the patient
manages not to die, the opening in the skull gradually closes
regenerating bone tissue. If there are no signs of healing on the skull, this
means that the patient died during the operation or shortly after it. In this
case, traces of bone inflammation along the edges of the hole are possible.
There is nothing particularly surprising in trepanation itself.
Certain cranial surgeries were widespread among various ancient
peoples throughout the world; first of all, these are a series of small holes in the back of the
occiput - they were drilled to reduce intracranial pressure. In addition, as
the researchers note, in ancient times it was believed that trepanation helps relieve
headaches. Some thought that
evil spirits were the cause of epilepsy and mental illness and that if a hole was made in the skull, they
would fly away.
However, for the American continents, as in the case of
deformation of the skulls, a downright manic tendency towards
trepanation is characteristic.
Sometimes trepanation was carried out even several times
per head. Judging by the traces of overgrowing of the holes (bone regeneration), people who
underwent this extraordinary operation, as a rule, survived.
“Several techniques of trepanation are known: gradual
scraping of the bone; cutting out in a circle a certain area of the skull;
drilling holes in a circle and then “removing the lid”. Typically, the hole diameter is 25 to 30 mm. There are curious cases when
traces of several successive trepanations are present on the skull: next to the
first, with traces of overgrowth, a second hole was made, which also
began to close. However, the ancient surgeon did not calm down and
cut a third hole right next to these two. This attempt turned out to be fatal - there are no traces of
bone restoration in this case. The operation was performed on the right temporal
share. Another curious case was observed on the skull with trepanation right in the center of the
crown - where psychics determine the exit of the main energy channel.
Neurosurgeons are well aware that the most vulnerable
part of the brain is located here. Whether this was known to the ancient Zapotec physician before the
operation began, we do not know. We are sure of only one
thing: the death of the patient was instantaneous” (G. Ershova,“Ancient America: Flight in Time and Space”).
In Mesoamerica, with a similar lifestyle of different peoples, the
Zapotecs in Oaxaca were fond of trepanation, but they did not reach
such a scale as the inhabitants of the South American Paracas, where
different techniques were widely used: square or rectangular plates were cut out, which were
then taken out; holes were drilled in the outlined circle or the
bone was cut off. Sometimes the holes were covered with a thin gold plate.
By the way, in one of the Paracas burials, a
set of surgical instruments from that distant era was even found. These were obsidian implements of
various sizes with traces of blood. In addition, there was also a
spoon made of a sperm whale tooth wrapped in cotton threads, a piece of cloth, bandages and threads.
In Paracas, a kind of "record" was also set:
trepanned skulls are found in almost half of the cases - from 40% to 60% !!!
Obviously, this percentage exceeds all reasonable limits.
First, even with the current level of development of knowledge about the brain and neurosurgery, it is unlikely that there will be such a number of people (even 40%) who have undergone operations
involving opening the skull. And secondly, it is obvious that it is
quite problematic to engage in vigorous activity with a perforated head; those. for
quite a long time, both the “perforated” and those caring for
them inevitably dropped out of the process of providing the tribe with everything necessary (this is not of fundamental importance for single cases, but for the
mass practice of trepanation, this factor also cannot be discounted).
So what could have caused such sado-masochistic mass
insanities?..
“Most of the trepanations were done in the region of the left temporal
lobe. The famous energy therapist L. P. Grimak believes that in this way the ancients
apparently tried to suppress the left hemisphere of the brain for the
natural activation of the right “extrasensory” hemisphere, which possesses
extremely archaic, so-called “paranormal” abilities, such as clairvoyance, vision of the future, etc. Predictions - that is, forecasting the future - have played an exceptional role in Native American cultures.
Some, such as the Maya, predicted and divined with the help of herbal
psychedelics in a state of ecstasy (this is also a form of activation of the right hemisphere
brain), others used hypnosis for these purposes. The Zapotecs
tried to solve the problem of brain activation in the most radical
way, worthy of such famous neurophysiologists as IP Pavlov or
VM Bekhterev "(G. Ershova," Ancient America: Flight in Time and Space ").
However, this hypothesis has a number of flaws. First, there is no point in reaching a state of altered consciousness to resort to
such radical methods, when it is possible to achieve the same state in a
much simpler way with the help of the same psychedelics that are
widespread in both North and South America. Secondly, how many
soothsayers and fortune-tellers are needed per tribe?.. As ethnographic
studies show, primitive tribes make do with one or two shamans. And even
ancient civilizations that have moved away from a completely primitive state cannot
afford the "luxury" of excluding half of the
the population, whose consciousness changed as a result of operations!.. And thirdly, everywhere shamans, fortune-tellers and soothsayers enjoy a special attitude towards themselves and
occupy a rather high position in the social hierarchy (if
there is social stratification in the community). And here, on both American continents, there is a clearly opposite trend!..
For example, in the Mesoamerican Monte Alban (the center of the
Zapotec civilization), archaeologists have discovered many dead bodies, in whose skulls
drilled or carved holes were made during their lifetime. Burials with
trepanned skulls differed from ordinary ones: as a rule, they were found under the
floors of small dwellings, and the victims of ancient neurosurgical experiments themselves
belonged to representatives of low social status.
In South America, there are often cases of burying
trepanned heads separately from the body, to which a
pumpkin was placed instead of the head. For peoples who believe in an afterlife, this means only one thing -
depriving the deceased of the possibility of this very afterlife!.. Is
such "irreversible punishment" compatible with a high social status?.. Perhaps, of
course. But not on a massive scale!..
By the way, if trepanation was carried out for therapeutic purposes, one would expect the absence of such social inequality, and
at least the absence of such a social bias in this direction -
carrying out complex operations on the representatives of the lower social strata of
society.
At the same time, researchers state another
social imbalance: skull deformities were practiced mainly by the noble (!)
Maya.
And, finally, one more fact: among the images of deformed
skulls there is not a single trepanned one !!!
That is: for the representatives of the peoples who practiced both
deformation and trepanation, there was not a rich choice - either to suffer in childhood, having undergone the painful procedure of changing the shape of the head, or to be
constantly at risk of being subjected to a much more painful (and more
risky) trepanation procedure. There were very few chances to keep your head
intact, judging by the scale of the deformation and
trepanation operations performed …
Here's a simple and powerful incentive for the strange procedure for
deforming skulls!..
And the question of the deformation of the skulls closes up with the question of the
causes of mass trepanations, for the answer to which, within the framework of the version of the egg-headed
gods , it remains to take only one step - to assume that it
was not people who were engaged in neurosurgical experiments, but those very "egg-headed gods" (with it
can even leave aside the problem of their terrestrial or alien origin).
With this assumption, it is possible to find a reasonable explanation for all the
details and facts. But first, there is one more thing to consider.
The mythology of, perhaps, all the peoples of the world and various religions
indicate that the ancient "gods" entered into sexual relations with people, after which, naturally, hybrids-"half-breeds" were born. It is clear that with such a
genetic mixing, such half-breeds and offspring inevitably had to periodically
manifest the genes for "egg-head", ie. an elongated skull is observed.
And it is quite natural that individuals with elongated skulls, as “descendants of the
all-powerful gods,” occupied a higher social position. For example, the skull of a
woman found in the so-called. the crypt of the queen in Palenque had an elongated shape.
People themselves are not addicted to the dilemma of a monstrous choice
between transformation and trepanation - they are placed in the conditions of this choice under the
influence of the outside from the "egg-headed gods." To avoid experiments
with trepanation, people tried to "disguise" their children as the children of "gods".
Cruel version?
But than, say, the gods neurosurgical experiments on
people differ over those experiments that carried the people themselves in
the laboratory on mice, dogs, and even monkeys.. We justify their?
Experiments "high humane purposes" - the desire to improve the
treatment methods and medicines for the people themselves … Then why shouldn't the gods have
the same "excuse"? Only in relation to themselves …
As a result, it turns out that elongated skulls can relate
to three options at once: 1) the skulls of the "egg-headed gods" themselves; 2) the skulls of their
half-blood descendants; 3) the skulls of people "disguised" as gods using
artificial deformation. And according to the available characteristic features - in the form of a difference
in the volume of the cranium, shape, traces of external influence, etc. - it is quite
possible to single out the skulls of each group from the total mass of finds But this is a challenge for
future research …
One more mystery remains for the future: skulls of a completely
different shape. There are very few of them, but they are !.