Headhunting
Headhunting is the practice of
The headhunting practice has been the subject of intense study within the
Today's scholars generally agree that headhunting's primary function was ritual and ceremonial. It was part of the process of structuring, reinforcing, and defending
Asia and Oceania
Melanesia
Headhunting was practiced by many
Historically, the
The
In The Cruise of the Snark (1911), the account by Jack London of his 1905 adventure sailing in Micronesia, he recounted that headhunters of Malaita attacked his ship during a stay in Langa Langa Lagoon, particularly around Laulasi Island. His and other ships were kidnapping villagers as workers on plantations, a practice known as blackbirding. Captain Mackenzie of the ship Minolta was beheaded by villagers as retribution for the loss of village men during an armed labour "recruiting" drive. The villagers believed that the ship's crew "owed" several more heads before the score was even.[11]
Southeast Asia
In Southeast Asia, anthropological writings have explored headhunting and other practices of the
Italian anthropologist and explorer Elio Modigliani visited the headhunting communities in South Nias (an island to the west of Sumatra) in 1886; he wrote a detailed study of their society and beliefs. He found that the main purpose of headhunting was the belief that, if a man owned another person's skull, his victim would serve as a slave of the owner for eternity in the afterlife. Human skulls were a valuable commodity.[12] Sporadic headhunting continued in Nias island until the late 20th century, the last reported incident dating from 1998.[13]
Headhunting was practiced among Sumba people until the early 20th century. It was done only in large war parties. When the men hunted wild animals, by contrast, they operated in silence and secrecy.[14] The skulls collected were hung on the skull tree erected in the center of village.
Kenneth George wrote about annual headhunting rituals that he observed among the Mappurondo religious minority, an upland tribe in the southwest part of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Heads are not taken; instead, surrogate heads in the form of coconuts are used in a ritual ceremony. The ritual, called pangngae, takes place at the conclusion of the rice-harvesting season. It functions to bring an end to communal mourning for the deceased of the past year; express intercultural tensions and polemics; allow for a display of manhood; distribute communal resources; and resist outside pressures to abandon Mappurondo ways of life.
United States authorities in the Philippines suppressed headhunting among the
]The Wa people, whose domain straddles the Burma-China border, were once known to Europeans as the "Wild Wa" for their "savage" behavior. Until the 1970s, the Wa practiced headhunting.[15]
In Sarawak, the north-western region of the island of Borneo, "White Rajah" James Brooke and his descendants established a dynasty. They eradicated headhunting in the hundred years before World War II. Before Brooke's arrival, the Iban had migrated from the middle Kapuas region into the upper Batang Lupar river region by fighting and displacing the small existing tribes, such as the Seru and Bukitan. Another successful migration by the Iban was from the Saribas region into the Kanowit area in the middle of the Batang Rajang river, led by the famous Mujah "Buah Raya". They fought and displaced such tribes as the Kanowit and Baketan.[citation needed]
Brooke first encountered the headhunting Iban of the Saribas-Skrang in Sarawak at the Battle of Betting Maru in 1849. He gained the signing of the Saribas Treaty with the Iban chief of that region, who was named Orang Kaya Pemancha Dana "Bayang". Subsequently, the Brooke dynasty expanded their territory from the first small Sarawak region to the present-day state of Sarawak. They enlisted the Malay, Iban, and other natives as a large unpaid force to defeat and pacify any rebellions in the states. The Brooke administration prohibited headhunting (ngayau in Iban language) and issued penalties for disobeying the Rajah-led government decree. During expeditions sanctioned by the Brooke administration, they allowed headhunting. The natives who participated in Brooke-approved punitive expeditions were exempted from paying annual tax to the Brooke administration and/or given new territories in return for their service. There were intra-tribal and intertribal headhunting.[citation needed]
The most famous Iban warrior to resist the authority of the Brooke administration was Libau "Rentap". The Brooke government had to send three successive punitive expeditions in order to defeat Rentapi at his fortress on the top of Sadok Hill. Brooke's force suffered major defeats during the first two expeditions. During the third and final expedition, Brooke built a large cannon called Bujang Sadok (Prince of Sadok Mount) to rival Rentap's cannon nicknamed Bujang Timpang Berang (The One Arm Bachelor) and made a truce with the sons of a famous chief, who supported Rentap in not recognizing the government of Brooke due to his policies.[citation needed]
The Iban performed a third major migration from upper Batang Ai region in the Batang Lupar region into the Batang Kanyau (Embaloh) onwards the upper Katibas and then to the Baleh/Mujong regions in the upper Batang Rajang region. They displaced the existing tribes of the Kayan, Kajang, Ukit, etc. The Brooke administration sanctioned the last migrations of the Iban, and reduced any conflict to a minimum. The Iban conducted sacred ritual ceremonies with special and complex incantations to invoke god's blessings, which were associated with headhunting. An example was the Bird Festival in the Saribas/Skrang region and Proper Festival in the Baleh region, both required for men of the tribes to become effective warriors.[citation needed]
During the Japanese occupation of British Borneo during the Second World War, headhunting was revived among the natives. The Sukarno-led Indonesian forces fought against the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. Forces of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak fought in addition, and headhunting was observed during the communist insurgency in Sarawak and what was then Malaya. The Iban were noted for headhunting, and were later recognised as good rangers and trackers during military operations, during which they were awarded fourteen medals of valour and honour.[citation needed]
Since 1997 serious inter-ethnic violence has erupted on the island of Kalimantan, involving the indigenous
The
New Zealand
In New Zealand, the Maori preserved the heads of some of their ancestors as well as certain enemies in a form known as mokomokai. They removed the brain and eyes, and smoked the head, preserving the moko tattoos. The heads were sold to European collectors in the late 1800s, in some instances having been commissioned and "made to order".[18]
China
During the
The
Japan
Tom O'Neill wrote:
Samurai also sought glory by headhunting. When a battle ended, the warrior, true to his mercenary origins, would ceremoniously present trophy heads to a general, who would variously reward him with promotions in rank, gold or silver, or land from the defeated clan. Generals displayed the heads of defeated rivals in public squares.[20]
Taiwan
Headhunting was a common practice among
The
At the
A most unmistakable scene in the market place occurred. Some six heads of Frenchmen, heads of the true French type were exhibited, much to the disgust of foreigners. A few visited the place where they were stuck up, and were glad to leave it—not only on account of the disgusting and barbarous character of the scene, but because the surrounding crowd showed signs of turbulence. At the camp also were eight other Frenchmen's heads, a sight which might have satisfied a savage or a Hill-man, but hardly consistent with the comparatively enlightened tastes, one would think, of Chinese soldiers even of to-day. It is not known how many of the French were killed and wounded; fourteen left their bodies on shore, and no doubt several wounded were taken back to the ships. (Chinese accounts state that twenty were killed and large numbers wounded.)
In the evening Captain Boteler and Consul Frater called on General Sun, remonstrating with him on the subject of cutting heads off, and allowing them to be exhibited. Consul Frater wrote him a despatch on the subject strongly deprecating such practices, and we understand that the general promised it should not occur again, and orders were at once given to bury the heads. It is difficult for a general even situated as Sun is—having to command troops like the Hillmen, who are the veriest savages in the treatment of their enemies—to prevent such barbarities.
It is said the Chinese buried the dead bodies of the Frenchmen after the engagement on 8th instant by order of General Sun. The Chinese are in possession of a machine gun taken or found on the beach.
— James Wheeler Davidson, The Island of Formosa, Past and Present: History, people, resources, and commercial prospects. Tea, camphor, sugar, gold, coal, sulphur, economical plants, and other productions[24][25]
Han and Taiwanese Aboriginals revolted against the Japanese in the
Indian subcontinent and Myanmar
Headhunting has been a practice among the , Kukis,[26] the Wa,[27] Mizo, the Garo and the Naga ethnic groups of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar till the 19th century.[28] Kafirs in eastern Afghanistan were headhunters until the late 19th century.[26]
Americas
Amazon
Several tribes of the
In the 21st century, the Shuar produce Tzan-tza replicas. They use their traditional process on heads of
The Kichwa-Lamista people in Peru used to be headhunters.[29]
Mesoamerican civilizations
A
A tzompantli-type structure has been excavated at the
.Based on numbers given by the conquistador Andrés de Tapia and Fray Diego Durán, Bernard Ortiz de Montellano[32] has calculated in the late 20th century that there were at most 60,000 skulls on the Hueyi Tzompantli (great Skullrack) of Tenochtitlan. There were at least five more skullracks in Tenochtitlan, but, by all accounts, they were much smaller.
Other examples are indicated from Maya civilization sites. A particularly fine and intact inscription example survives at the extensive Chichen Itza site.[33]
Nazca culture
The Nazca used severed heads, known as trophy heads, in various religious rituals.[34] Late Nazca iconography suggests that the prestige of the leaders of Late Nazca society was enhanced by successful headhunting.[35]
Europe
Celts
The
Scythians
The Scythians were excellent horsemen. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote that some of their tribes practiced human sacrifice, drinking the blood of victims, scalping their enemies, and drinking wine from the enemies' skulls.[39]
Montenegrins
The
Modern times
Second Sino-Japanese War
Nanjing Massacre
Many Chinese soldiers and civilians were beheaded by some Japanese soldiers, who even made contests to see who would kill more people (see Hundred man killing contest), and took photos with the piles of heads as souvenirs.
World War II
During World War II, Allied (specifically including American) troops occasionally collected the skulls of dead Japanese as personal trophies, as souvenirs for friends and family at home, and for sale to others. (The practice was unique to the Pacific theater; United States forces did not take skulls of German and Italian soldiers.) In September 1942, the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet mandated strong disciplinary action against any soldier who took enemy body parts as souvenirs. But such trophy-hunting persisted: Life published a photograph in its issue of May 22, 1944, of a young woman posing with the autographed skull sent to her by her Navy boyfriend. There was public outrage in the US in response.[41][42]
Historians have suggested that the practice related to Americans viewing the Japanese as lesser people, and in response to mutilation and torture of American war dead.[43] In Borneo, retaliation by natives against the Japanese was based on atrocities having been committed by the Imperial Japanese Army in that area. Following their ill treatment by the Japanese, the Dayak of Borneo formed a force to help the Allies. Australian and British special operatives of Z Special Unit developed some of the inland Dayak tribesmen into a thousand-strong headhunting army. This army of tribesmen killed or captured some 1,500 Japanese soldiers.[44]
Malayan Emergency
During the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960), British and Commonwealth forces recruited Iban (Dayak) headhunters from Borneo to fight and decapitate suspected guerrillas of the socialist and pro-independence Malayan National Liberation Army, officially claiming this was done for "identification" purposes.[45] Iban headhunters were permitted to keep the scalps of corpses as trophies.[46][45] Privately, the Colonial Office noted that "there is no doubt that under international law a similar case in wartime would be a war crime".[47][48][49] Skull fragments from a trophy skull was later found to have been displayed in a British regimental museum.[45]
In 1952, April, the
Despite the shocking imagery of the photographs of soldiers posing with severed heads in Malaya, the Daily Worker was the only British newspaper to publish them during the 20th century, and the photographs were virtually ignored by the mainstream British press.[49]
Malayan Emergency headhunting gallery
-
An Iban headhunter wearing a Royal Marine beret prepares a human scalp above a basket of human body parts.
-
Same Iban headhunter posing with a human scalp
-
The Daily Worker exposes the practice of headhunting among British troops in Malaya. 28 April 1952.
-
Commonwealth soldiers in a British military base pose with a severed head
-
Commonwealth soldiers pose with a severed head inside a British military base in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency
-
A Daily Worker article exposing newly uncovered images of British atrocities involving headhunting during the Malayan Emergency
Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, some American soldiers engaged in the practice of taking "trophy skulls".[53][54]
General gallery
-
Head trophy, Munduruku people, northern Brazil, c. 1820
-
Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh, leader of the Dahomey Amazons, holding a severed head.
-
An Ifugao warrior with some of his trophies, Philippines, 1912
-
Dayak women dancing with human heads, 1912
-
The Dayak longhouse
-
Japanese samurai holding a severed head
-
Severed heads of bandits Tieling, Manchuria in 1928, during the government ofZhang Xueliang
See also
- Shrunken head
- Scalping
- Decapitation
- Skull cup
- Human sacrifice
- Human trophy collecting
- Macheteros de Jara
- Laulasi Island
- Beheading in Islam
- Headless Horseman
- Plastered human skulls
- Helotpopulation.
- Tribal warfare
References
Citations
- Fratelli Treves EditoriMilano 1890
- ^ Hutton, J. H. "The Significance of Head-Hunting in Assam." The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 58, 1928, pp. 399–408.
- ^ Some Head-Hunting Traditions of Southern New Guinea, by Justus M. van der Kroef, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Apr. – Jun. 1952), pp. 221–235
- ^ "Hunter Gatherers – New Guinea". Climatechange.umaine.edu. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ Laurence Goldman (1999).The Anthropology of Cannibalism. p.19.
- ^ Nevermann 1957: 9
- ^ Nevermann 1957: 111
- ^ Nevermann 1957: blurb
- ^ Nevermann 1957: 13
- ^ "Head-Hunters Drove Papuan Tribe Into Tree-Houses". Sciencedaily.com. March 9, 1998. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ Jack London (1911). The Cruise of the Snark. Harvard University Digitized Jan 19, 2006.
- ^ E.Modigliani, "Un viaggio a Nias", Fratelli Treves Editori Milano 1890
- OCLC 909365265.
- ^ Hoskins, Janet. The Play of Time: Kodi Perspectives on Calendars, History, and Exchange. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1993 1993. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0x0n99tc/ p.312-314
- ^ "Soldiers of Fortune", TIME Asia
- ^ "Behind Ethnic War, Indonesia's Old Migration Policy". Globalpolicy.org. March 1, 2001. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ Bartels, Dieter. "Politicians and Magicians: Power, Adaptive Strategies, and Syncretism in the Central Moluccas" (PDF). Retrieved February 8, 2024.
- ^ "Weather delays return of toi-moko", TNVZ (national news)
- ^ ""Headhunting days are over for Myanmar's "Wild Wa"", Reuters, Sep 10, 2007". Reuters. September 10, 2007. Archived from the original on May 27, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ Tom O'Neill, "Samurai: Japan's Way of the Warrior", National Geographic Magazine.
- ISBN 0932727905. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
- ISBN 978-9004165076. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
- ISBN 9780765641892.
- ^ Davidson, James Wheeler (1903). The Island of Formosa, Past and Present. Macmillan & Company.
- ^ Davidson, James Wheeler (1903). The Island of Formosa. sn.
- ^ a b "Headhunting (anthropology)". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- ^ ""Headhunting days are over for Myanmar's "Wild Wa"", Reuters, Sep 10, 2007". Reuters. September 10, 2007. Archived from the original on May 27, 2018.
- ISBN 978-1405330954.
- ISBN 9780857456342.
- ^ "Tower of human skulls in Mexico casts new light on Aztecs". Reuters. July 1, 2017.
- ^ Spencer (1982), pp. 236–239
- ^ Ortíz de Montellano 1983
- ^ Miller and Taube (1993), p. 176.
- ^ "The Body Context: Interpreting Early Nasca Decapitation Burials" DeLeonardis, Lisa. Latin American Antiquity. 2000. Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 363–368.
- ^ "A Cache of 48 Nasca Trophy Heads From Cerro Carapo, Peru" by David Browne, Helaine Silverman, and Ruben Garcia, Latin American Antiquity (1993), Volume 4, No. 3: 274–294
- ^ see e.g. Diodorus Siculus, 5.2
- ^ "Info for Headhunters". www.lard.net.
- St. Winifred in Celtic territory, preserve the pattern and strengthen the link between legend and folklore," Beatrice White observes. (White 1972, p. 123).
- ^ Jona Lendering. "Summary of and commentary on Herodotus' Histories, book 4". Livius.org. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ISBN 9781850439394.
- ^ Fussel 1990: 117
- ^ Harrison 2006: 817ff
- ^ Weingartner 1992, p. 67.
- ^ "'Guests' can succeed where occupiers fail", International Herald Tribune, 9 November 2007
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78238-520-2.
- ^ Hack, Karl (2022). The Malayan Emergency: Revolution and Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 318.
- ^ Fujio Hara (December 2002). Malaysian Chinese & China: Conversion in Identity Consciousness, 1945–1957. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 61–65.
- ^ Mark Curtis (August 15, 1995). The Ambiguities of Power: British Foreign Policy Since 1945. pp. 61–71.
- ^ a b c Hack, Karl (2022). The Malayan Emergency: Revolution and Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 316.
- ^ Hack, Karl (2022). The Malayan Emergency: Revolution and Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 315.
- ISBN 981-04-8693-6.
- ^ Hack, Karl (2022). The Malayan Emergency: Revolution and Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 317.
- ^ Michelle Boorstein (July 3, 2007). "Eerie Souvenirs From the Vietnam War". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
- ^ "Signs of the Times – Trophy Skulls". George.loper.org. August 8, 1996. Archived from the original on October 4, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
Sources
- Davidson, James Wheeler (1903). The Island of Formosa: Past and Present: History, People, Resources, and Commercial Crospects. Tea, Camphor, Sugar, Gold, Coal, Sulphur, Economical Plants, and other Productions. London and New York: Macmillan & Co.
- Davidson, James Wheeler (1903). The Island of Formosa: Historical View From 1430 to 1900.
- ISBN 9780199840359.
- George, Kenneth (1996). Showing Signs of Violence: The Cultural Politics of a Twentieth-Century Headhunting Ritual. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20041-1.
- Harrison, Simon (2006). "Skull Trophies of the Pacific War: Transgressive Objects of remembrance./Les Trophees De la Guerre Du Pacifique Des Cranes Comme Souvenirs Transgressifs". .
- Nevermann, Hans (1957). Söhne des tötenden Vaters. Dämonen- und Kopfjägergeschichten aus Neu-Guinea [Sons of the killing father. Stories about demons and headhunting, recorded in New Guinea]. Das Gesicht der Völker (in German). Vol. 23. Eisenach • Kassel: Erich Röth-Verlag.
- .
- Tsai, Shih-shan Henry (2009). Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West (illustrated ed.). M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0765623287.
- Weingartner, James J. (1992). "Trophies of War: U.S. Troops and the Mutilation of Japanese War Dead, 1941–1945". JSTOR 3640788.
- White, Beatrice (Summer 1972). "A Persistent Paradox". Folklore. 83 (2): 122–131. PMID 11614481.
- Yamada, Hitoshi (2015). Religionsethnologie der Kopfjagd (in Japanese). Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo. ISBN 978-4480843050.
Further reading
- Head-Hunting Roman Cavalry - article about single combat and the taking of heads and scalps as trophies by Roman warriors
- Les Romains, chasseurs de têtes - paper by Jean-Louis Voisin about the Roman practice of head hunting
- Cornélis De Witt Willcox (1912). The head hunters of northern Luzon: from Ifugao to Kalinga, a ride through the mountains of northern Luzon : with an appendix on the independence of the Philippines. Vol. 31 of Philippine culture series. Franklin Hudson Publishing Co. ISBN 9781465502544. Retrieved April 24, 2014.