Shrunken Head Displayed in Georgia Was Returned to Ecuador
Researchers at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., authenticated the head, which was brought to the United States by a professor decades ago, and turned it over to Ecuadorean officials in 2019.
Bought in Ecuador in the 1940s by a future biology professor, the shrunken head, called a tsantsa, had been alternately displayed and stored at Mercer University for decades.Credit. Adam Kiefer/Mercer University
No bigger than a fist, the shrunken head had nonetheless become a major headache.
The head, a mummified Amazonian war trophy called a tsantsa, had been in the possession of Mercer University in Macon, Ga., for decades. Over that time, it was puzzled over by professors, used as a prop in a John Huston comedy and displayed in a university museum. And in 2019, it was returned to Ecuadorean officials but only after it was authenticated with a 33-item checklist, according to an article published this week by Mercer researchers.
tsantsa is ceremonial, the paper said.
It continued: Based upon hair analysis and the presence of nits, it is concluded that the Mercer
tsantsa is of human origin.
According to the paper, tsantas are rare cultural artifacts that were made from human remains by certain indigenous culture groups of Ecuador and Peru .
The introduction explains: Typically, male members of the Amazonian Shuar, Achuar, Awajún/Aguaruna, Wampís/Huambisa, and Candoshi-Shampra (collectively referred to as the SAAWC culture groups) manufactured
tsantsas from the cranial integument (i.e. skin) of enemies slain during combat.
Advert It was believed that
tsantsas contained the spirit of the victim and all their technical knowledge and thus were considered to possess supernatural qualities and represent a source of personal power for the owner.
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A shrunken head that was used as a prop in John Huston s 1979 dark comedy Wise Blood was confirmed to have been real human remains.
The head, known as a tsantsa, was a sacred artifact obtained by Mercer University in 1942 after a former faculty member acquired it in Ecuador while serving in the U.S. military, People magazine reported on Tuesday.
According to the outlet, Mercer University scientists Craig D. Byron and Adam M. Kiefer made the revelation in a research paper shared on Heritage Science.