Heads Up

The head, in particular the face, of a person is their most distinguishing characteristic. It is the aspect which is the focus of a description. A sketch artist will draw the face, a portrait is mainly of the face, and if you happen to have been sufficiently dishonest, you will find your face on the FBI most wanted list. A height, or weight may be given, but the focus is on one’s head. The head and face are more than a set of eyes, ears, hair, skin, nose and mouth. Facial expressions often yield a clue as to your reaction to some news, as will the look in your eyes. George Bush (43rd) said he could look into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and see his soul. Our facial expressions and the look in our eyes can give a sense of our character. But so too can the way one will wear their hair (both head and facial), along with any ornaments—think ear rings, or nose rings, or even a tongue pierce. All work to give an expression of yourself to others.

Face piercing

Ornamentation is not a creation of modern society, but goes back to early times of the human race. Perhaps even some now long distinct hominid lineages used body ornamentation. Anthropologists will find skulls of an early lineage or human and apply the tricks of their trade, combined with modern science, to produce what a person may have looked like. A most recent example is KennewickMan (Smithsonian). The skull and much of the skeletal remains of a man who lived 8900 to 9000 years ago were found along the Kennewick River in the state of Washington. Such recreations assist in giving us an idea of early settlers of that area of the nation, and of our ancestry. Kennewick man has Polynesian or Asian features. The thought is that humans, after moving from Africa, migrated across the Bearing Strait and headed south to populate what is now the western US. Discovery was not only left to the Europeans. People come in all shapes and sizes The features of our face, can help give a clue to our ancestry.

Recreated face of Kennewick Man

Living in Australia at or perhaps 4,000 years before Kennewick man were a group of people who had skulls with a markedly different shape than that of the standard homo sapiens. Even though located in geologically recent material the shape of the skull would lead to a competing theory to the out of Africa dominant idea of human evolution and travel. As reported by the BBC, the skull, discovered in 1925, “with its flat, sloping forehead and prominent brow ridge” looked distinctly primitive. In fact, it was claimed, it was a homo erectus, a hominid line that lived from 2 million to 140,000 years ago. If this claim was true, it would upend science placing Homo erectus to within about 10,000 years ago, or the age of the Wisconsin glaciation. Discoveries of other similar skulls would sharpen the debate among anthropologists. The multi-origin theory went questioned why otherwise would the skulls look so much like a long-thought died out line if it was not Homo erectus? What the multi-origin proponents failed to recognize is that while the brow and forehead were shaped like the long lost Homo erectus, its brain case was narrower, but larger—features more similar to the humans of today. Flattening the skull accentuates the brow.

Skull of a Homo Erectus

Replica of Cohuna Skull

This posed the question, was the head purposely shaped like this. This idea first arose in the 1970’s. We know the human skull is rather pliable, particularly in the first year of life. Think of the debate of placing sleeping baby’s on their back. This practice would cut down on deaths due to Sudden Infant Death syndrome, but would lead to an increase in plagiocephaly, or flat head syndrome. To adjust to the size of the brain of today’s human the skull had to become pliable. Our brains our larger than what they should be for animal of our size. Hence, the skull has to adjust to the growing brain.

Example of plagiocephaly

Each culture has its own idea of what is beautiful. It is known that in pre-Columbian America, skulls were manipulated to be similarly shaped as the Cohuna skull in Australia. The pre-Columbina skulls were accomplished to offset the elite in the culture. Similar skull shaping practices occurred in 19th century Nicaragua, and in the Chinook and Cowlitz tribes in 19th century North America which was believed to be a sign of freedom for these North American Indian tribes. Undoubtedly, these cultures did not know about Homo erectus, and were not out to copy the skull shape of the long dead lineage. Anthropologists can speculate and create theories about why 9,000 to 14,000 years ago a group of people in Australia manipulated to reform the shape of the heads of their young children. If the reasoning applied to more recent cultures is true, they did so for cultural reasons, to set a group apart from others within their society. Or, as the BBC reports, it is a concept rooted in cultural achievement, or the belief in the unfinished self and that the newborn must be improved. 

Out of Africa theory on world settlement

Setting apart from the main group is not unlike the ornamentation we see today, whether it be fancy mustache, manicured long finger nails, tattoos or pierces and rings. Maybe the wearer believes that they are improving their body, and the concept of the unfinished self is continuing 14,000 (or more) years later. While the wearer of these varied ornaments may feel it is a description of themselves, their true character is more than skin deep.  Our character is part of our soul.

Recreated Homo Erectus