# How are shrunken heads made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 3, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-shrunken-heads-made/697369 "2014-09-03T14:56:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-shrunken-heads-made/697369/1 "2014-09-03T14:56:11Z")
A Cecil column from 1998: [How are shrunken heads made? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1273/how-are-shrunken-heads-made) And a related discussion: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=389400&highlight=jivaro](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=389400&highlight=jivaro) Not much Wiki info on the Jivaro: [Jivaroan peoples - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jivaroan_peoples) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-shrunken-heads-made/697369/2 "2014-09-03T18:39:22Z")
Years of therapy! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-shrunken-heads-made/697369/4 "2014-09-04T15:36:59Z")
:: Jivaro rimshot :: ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-shrunken-heads-made/697369/5 "2014-09-05T02:10:16Z")
The part of the column that got me was the massacre of the Spanish, 25,000 at one shot back in 1599. After kicking butt in Central and South America, the Jivaro put up a far different resistance. For some reason, work is not letting me search for Logrono massacre or I’d link to it. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-shrunken-heads-made/697369/6 "2014-09-05T15:29:33Z")
My juvenile mind was amused by this line from the column: > [@](#): > > The Jivaro tribes were constantly attacking one another, mostly to avenge some real or imagined wrong. The practical goal of these raids was wives and booty . . . ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-shrunken-heads-made/697369/7 "2014-09-05T16:00:39Z")
On a somewhat related note, the War Nerd posted an interesting article the other day on [the history of beheadings](http://pando.com/2014/09/03/the-war-nerd-the-long-twisted-history-of-beheadings-as-propaganda/) and their depiction in media, from murals and stone carvings to ISIS videos. I liked this line: > [@](#): > > You could actually argue that the most basic subject for human art, across all media and all eras, is the depiction of a victorious soldier holding up the severed head of an enemy. It’s a synecdoche for victory, instantly understandable without language, across cultures.