# Skull deformation: what did it do to peoples' minds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983 "2008-04-12T01:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/1 "2008-04-12T01:51:46Z")
Some cultures in different places and times have practiced deliberately deforming their children’s skulls, usually flattening or elongating, in order to achieve some strange ideal of beauty. [This photo](http://www.britannica.com/eb/art/print?id=94637&articleTypeId=0) shows two skulls that could human-Xenomorph hybrids by the look of them. My question is what the hell did this do to peoples’s brains? Has the practice survived into modern times and ever been studied by neurologists? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/2 "2008-04-12T02:55:26Z")
Can you check that link, please? All I get is the Britannica Online Encyclopedia home page with a picture of Arnold Palmer. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/3 "2008-04-12T03:00:33Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] Can you check that link, please? All I get is the Britannica Online Encyclopedia home page with a picture of Arnold Palmer. [/QUOTE] Link works fine for me… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/4 "2008-04-12T03:09:43Z")
Home page/Arnold Palmer in Firefox, elongated skulls in IE. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/5 "2008-04-12T03:10:44Z")
I’m using I.E., and I still get Arnold Palmer. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/6 "2008-04-12T03:14:48Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] Can you check that link, please? All I get is the Britannica Online Encyclopedia home page with a picture of Arnold Palmer. [/QUOTE] I gave the address Google gave me; here’s the “link to this page” address: [http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-94637](http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-94637) ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/7 "2008-04-12T03:45:17Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] Home page/Arnold Palmer in Firefox, elongated skulls in IE. [/QUOTE] Firefox 2.0.0.13, elongated skulls for me ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/8 "2008-04-12T03:52:55Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] I gave the address Google gave me; here’s the “link to this page” address: [http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-94637](http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-94637) [/QUOTE] “An error occurred while trying to display this page.” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/9 "2008-04-12T04:07:56Z")
Not working for me, either. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/10 "2008-04-12T04:08:06Z")
Eh…[here’s the company page that the encyclopedia got the pictures from.](http://www.skullsunlimited.com/peruvian-elongated-trephined-skulls.html) The replicas are for sale, too. And at a reasonable price. Frikkin _awesome…_ ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/11 "2008-04-12T04:29:38Z")
Well, now that’s settled, does anyone know the answer to the OP? I’ve often wondered that, too. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/12 "2008-04-12T06:09:36Z")
[hijack] Man, am I thirsty for some iced tea and lemonade. What do they call that again? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/13 "2008-04-12T07:06:06Z")
I got a Britannica page, but with a video about MacArthur wanting to use nukes in Korea. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/14 "2008-04-12T07:15:42Z")
Something I had heard is that people with these kinds of skulls suffered from hydrocephalus. The cerebrospinal fluid that cushions your brain and spinal cord is made by special structures within the cavities of your brain. It then flows (really slowly) down a little canal over your brain stem, out into the space around your spinal cord. Screwing with the shape of the skull logically would stopper up this drainage. Apparently, some of the skull have signs of trepanation, evidence of attempts to relieve the pressure. Sorry, but I can’t find a reputable link now. Everything on google is traipsing on about Alien modification of humans :rolleyes: My limited understanding is that the practice died out thousands of years before western contact with South America. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/15 "2008-04-12T08:41:53Z")
I’ve seen some of those skulls at some museum in Peru, I believe. I was under the impression that it was actually done to Royals, or something like that. Pretty strange sense of aesthetics, though. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/16 "2008-04-12T11:04:01Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] I’ve seen some of those skulls at some museum in Peru, I believe. I was under the impression that it was actually done to Royals, or something like that. Pretty strange sense of aesthetics, though. [/QUOTE] Me too, and worse, in Cuzco. A full cone-head with a hole at the top, from skull-binding. Allegedly it was to make the skull look like a mountain. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/17 "2008-04-12T13:58:47Z")
[QUOTE=matt] Me too, and worse, in Cuzco. A full cone-head with a hole at the top, from skull-binding. Allegedly it was to make the skull look like a mountain. [/QUOTE] I would have expected to see something like that in [France](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remulak) but not in Peru. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/18 "2008-04-12T16:48:35Z")
Wasn’t there a native tribe in the Americas called the flat heads that did this in a milder form? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/19 "2008-04-12T16:52:01Z")
If I recall, it was see along the northwest coast of North America. There are also groups in Africa that practice some forms of skull deformation. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983/20 "2008-04-12T17:03:15Z")
Did it turn them into mathematics honor students? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skull-deformation-what-did-it-do-to-peoples-minds/444983.md?page=2)