Research Catalog

Title

The taking and displaying of human body parts as trophies by Amerindians / edited by Richard J. Chacon and David H. Dye.

Publication

New York : Springer, ©2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Chacon, Richard J., 1959-
• Dye, David H.

Description

xvii, 680 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

The Amerindian (American Indian or Native American--reference to both North and South America) practice of taking and displaying various body parts as trophies has long intrigued both the research community as well as the public. As a subject that is both controversial and politically charged, it has also come under attack as a European colonists' perspective intended to denigrate native peoples. What The Taking and Displaying of Human Body parts as Trophies by Amerindians demonstrates is that the practice of trophy-taking predates European contact in the Americas but was also practiced in other parts of the world (Europe, Africa, Asia) and has been practiced prehistorically, historically and up to and including the twentieth century. This edited volume mainly focuses on this practice in both North and South America. The editors and contributors (which include Native Peoples from both continents) examine the evidence and causes of Amerindian trophy taking as reflected in osteological, archaeological, ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts. Additionally, they present objectively and discuss dispassionately the topic of human proclivity toward ritual violence. --From cover.

Series Statement

Interdisciplinary contributions to archaeology

Uniform Title

Interdisciplinary contributions to archaeology.

Subjects

• Amerika
• Indianer
• America
• Skalp
• Körperteil
• Trophäe
• Krieg
• Scalping
• Indians > Warfare
• 15.85 history of America
• Military trophies > America

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Terms of Use (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

PART I. NORTH AMERICA. Introduction -- Introduction to human trophy taking: an ancient and widespread practice -- Heads, women, and the baubles of prestige: trophies of war in the Arctic and Subarctic -- Human trophy taking on the Northwest Coast: an ethnohistorical perspective -- Ethynographic and linguistic evidence for the origins of human-trophy taking in California -- Head trophies and scalping: images in Southwest rock art -- Human finger and hand bone necklaces from the Plains and Great Basin -- Predatory war and Hopewell trophies -- "Otinontsiskiaj ondaon" ("The House of Cut-off Heads"): the history and archaeology of northern Iroquoian trophy taking -- Human trophy taking in eastern North America during the archaic period: the relationship to warfare and social complexity -- Severed heads and sacred scalplocks: Mississippian iconographic trophies -- Disabling the dead: human trophy taking in the prehistoric Southeast -- Trophy taking in the central and lower Mississippi Valley -- PART II: LATIN AMERICA. Introduction -- Captive sacrifice and trophy taking among the ancient Maya: an evaluation of the bioarchaeological evidence and the sociopolitical implications -- The divine gourd tree: Tzompantli skull racks, decapitation rituals, and human trophies in ancient Mesoamerica -- Sorcery and the taking of trophy heads in ancient Costa Rica -- From corporeality to sanctity: transforming bodies into trophy heads in the pre-Hispanic Andes -- Human trophies in the late pre-Hispanic Andes: striving for status and maintaining power among the Incas and other societies -- Seeking the headhunter's power: the quest for arutam among the Achuar of the Ecuadorian Amazon and the development of ranked societies -- "Handsome death": the taking, veneration, and consumption of human remains in the insular Caribbean and greater Amazonia -- Human trophy taking the South American Gran Chaco -- Ethics and ethnocentricity in interpretation and critique: challenges to the anthropology of corporeality and death -- Supplemental data on Amerindian trophy taking -- Conclusions -- Index.

ISBN

• 9780387483009
• 0387483004
• 9780387769837
• 0387769838
• 9780387483039 (canceled/invalid)
• 0387483034 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2007925066

OCLC

• ocm77795772
• 77795772
• SCSB-9518339

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library