HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology 64 (2013) 326–328

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HOMO - Journal of ComparativeHuman Biology

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Book review

The Bioarchaeology of the Human Head, M. Bonogofsky, C.S. Larsen (Eds.), University Press ofFlorida, Gainesville (2011). $75.95, 368 pp., ISBN: 987-0813035567

As part of the series “Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, andGlobal Perspectives”, this volume provides a number of case studies from across the world that usea biocultural approach to contextualize the importance of the human skull in cultural and mortuarypractices. The global survey of cultures past and present illustrates the spectrum of cultural usesand beliefs related to the human head by introducing the reader to a range of practices includingcuration, modification, collection, and decoration. The cross-cultural studies presented in this volumeare heuristically oriented, with authors asking problem-based research questions designed to addressaspects of archeology, osteology, and ethnography.

Intersections between social status and the physical body can be illustrated through mortuarypractices, thus providing evidence for the interpretation of personhood, kinship, and identity. Theskull, being a highly conspicuous and symbolic skeletal element, has frequently been employed inthe treatment of the human body after death, most notably in the admiration of ancestors or thedetestation of enemies. The human head is instantly identifiable, even in its skeletonized form. Afterbiological death, individuals may experience some prolonged social death as their body parts areimplemented by the living to serve as triumphant trophies, sociopolitical symbols, or ritual objects. Inthis way, a material object (the human skull) is transformed into an agent for the immaterial ideologicalmessages that are communicated by the living about or for the dead.

The authors featured in this volume inquire about the modes of death and the nature of deathrituals; it is through the focus of these questions that information about socially-prescribed mortuaryrituals related to identity (gender, sex, age, status, etc.) can be answered. Bonogofsky effectively dividedthis volume into contributions situated in symbolic or contextual analysis of the skull versus thosethat incorporated bioarchaeological or biochemical approaches to answer research questions.

In Chapter 2, Bonney and Clegg report on the modification of skulls from the Torres Strait Islands.Here, the manipulation of skulls was enacted for disparate social functions related to either the cre-ation of a loving memorial to the deceased or the procurement of a violent trophy object for tradeduring headhunting customs. Using ethnographic accounts of mortuary practices performed duringthe defleshing of kin, Bonney and Clegg identified postmortem treatments of the skeleton that wereborne of cultural needs for memorials of ancestors. In observing a series of skulls, the authors distin-guished taphonomic evidence of termite activity on the skulls, thus substantiating the ethnographicreports of this practice in the treatment of relatives.

With a focus on the factors involved in collection, Bonogofsky and Graham researched modeled anddecorated skulls used in Melanesian death rituals in Chapter 3. Often, esthetics guided the selectionof skulls, with the remains of the young and beautiful being favored for postmortem modeling anddecorating. Being imbued with supernatural power, the skulls served as relics that united and inspiredthe surviving community through their display or exchange. Interestingly, the biological remains of

0018-442X/$ – see front matterhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jchb.2013.03.001

Book review 327

social transgressors or the elderly were never adopted in these mortuary rituals; here, it is obviousthat specific mortuary treatments were reserved for those who died during their virile youth.

Valentin and Rolland review historical documents and artifacts related to the post-contact culturalenvironment of the Marquesas Islands in Chapter 4. The authors demonstrated that decorated skulls,once viewed by indigenous peoples as ritually important trophies or material remains of ancestors,became objects of curiosity, reproduction, and collection for Europeans after contact with native cul-tures. The sale and trade of the skulls was performed for entirely different motivations signaled by achange in the politco-religious atmosphere after Western colonization.

Examining the expression and negotiation of elite social power in medieval Ireland in Chapter 5,O’Donnabhain used a multifactorial approach to assert that decapitation of community members wasperformed to symbolically transform them into social “others.” Dismemberment was performed withthe express purpose of disparaging the body so that the individual was recognized as an outsidernot physically or socially fit to receive proper entry into the afterlife. During this period of time, theChristian notion of purgatory was expanding through Europe. The purposeful denigration of the corpsewas a powerful action on the part of the living to halt the acceptance of the soul of the deceased intoheaven.

Analyzing a Roman cemetery, Montgomery and colleagues used biochemistry to identify local vs.non-local individuals in Chapter 6. This submission demonstrates how cultural context is exceedinglyimportant in bioarchaeological investigations as decapitation is perceived much differently than inthe preceding chapter. The eventual dispensation of Roman males by way of decapitation was viewedas a form of punishment, albeit a more rapid, honorable one. The combination of central burial locale,stable isotope analysis, and historical knowledge of execution practices in the Roman world led theauthors to conclude that, while the men were victims of state-sponsored violence, they likely heldsomewhat higher status offices in life.

Stojanowski and Duncan discuss their contribution within the framework of modern forensicanthropology. In Chapter 7, the authors presented the case of a human calvaria suspected to be thatof a Franciscan friar killed during the Spanish Colonial period in the southeastern United States. Usingcontemporary craniometric standards, historical records, and archeological context, Stojanowski andDuncan attempt to positively identify the remains of a culturally sensitive, centuries-old case. Theirdiscussion of methodology in the assignation of population affinity is especially relevant to contem-porary bioarcheologists whose goal is to approximate past realities as much as possible, as well as toforensic anthropologists who aim to provide positive identifications of skeletonized remains.

In Chapter 8, Sharapova and Razhev assess emerging social status and group differentiation duringthe Iron Age in the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia by analyzing cranial indices and archeological mor-tuary data. Both nomadism and sedentism were practiced, though the nomadism was likely viewedas an elite lifestyle. Cranial modification was developed as a communicable cultural message thatsignified elite status.

In Chapter 9, Lozada also uses cranial modification to infer group identity in the pre-Incan Chiribayaculture. The modification of the skull acts as an immediate marker of “insider” status. The Chiribayawere socially defined by their occupation, and modification of the body was an external imprint of thatstatus. Interestingly, she draws upon modern ethnographic data to make a case for the natural world(specifically the shape of the surrounding mountains) influencing the desired shape of the modifiedskull.

Gellar investigated cranial modification practices in Chapter 10, restating what is now agreed uponby Mesoamericanists: the Maya did not restrict cranial modification by sex or socioeconomic statusunlike many other cultures that practiced cranial alteration. Modification of the skull during infancyinitiates a social “process of becoming,” thus providing a visual representation of social norms, power,and practices being acted out on the body throughout life. Because of the time involved in the shapingand maintenance of the altered crania, those individuals who received this treatment may have beengroomed for particular roles within the community.

A single modified cranium from Cuzco, Peru is the focus of investigation by Andrushko in Chapter11. Descriptions of the osteological signatures of violence and postmortem modification are presented,along with a review of trophy-taking in prehistoric Andean societies. The modified cranium is com-pared to other trophy heads, and while differences may be due to variable treatment of trophy skulls,

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Andrushko suggests that stable isotope analysis should be performed to identify the geographic originof this individual. Developing a strontium isotope profile for this individual would place him in oroutside the local Cuzco population.

Finally, in Chapter 12, Forgey presents a study of Nasca trophy head origins using ancient DNAanalysis. Through genetic analysis, all five American Indian haplotypes were found in the trophy headsample and the heads were found to be those of local individuals. The confirmation that trophy headswere derived from persons within the community can open a new host of questions about how andwhy certain individuals became disembodied cultural trophies after death.

The scope of this volume should be applauded, as many geographic areas and methodologies arehighlighted by these case studies. This text demonstrates the utility of individual or small samples inbioarchaeology. Rather than performing rote descriptive analyses and dismissing the manipulation orcollection of human heads as problematical by-products of some larger, intangible cultural processes,the authors in this volume extract much anthropological insight with laconic, focused studies basedupon very small samples. All lines of evidence are incorporated to assess the nature of the human headsin each chapter as either representative of discrete burials or artifactual objects. This multifactorialtreatment of the skull reminds the reader of Kopytoff’s (1986) social biography of things. That is, eachhead is investigated in such exquisite detail using all manner of evidence, that the heads are nearlytransformed from human into some more powerful incorporeal object. Many of the chapters dealwith the transition of the head from appendage of the deceased to object imbued with ritual meaning(whether for reverence or violence). Bioarchaeologists will benefit from this text as it deftly high-lights the importance of small samples in understanding the intricacies of mortuary rituals. Advancedundergraduate students and graduate students will easily follow the concise and structured chapters.Each entry is an exercise in the cultural interpretation of biological remains, so this text will appealbroadly to all persons interested in bioarchaeology.

Amy R. MichaelDepartment of Anthropology, Michigan State University, U.S.A.

E-mail address: michae76@msu.edu

6 March 2013

Available online 29 March 2013