The practice of literally taking a person's head after killing them

concept

Benin (Dahomey): men holding staffs made of human skulls with plumes of horsehair. Photograph by Kurt Lubinski (?), 19--.

Trophies of a headhunter's house of the Chang Naga tribe, India, including human skulls. Photograph.

Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: the Hall of Primitive Medicine. Photograph.

Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: a head-hunter's hut, south east New Guinea, in the Hall of Primitive Medicine. Photograph.

A man of the Konyak Naga tribe, with a necklace indicating that he has cut off a man's head. Photograph by Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, ca. 1937.

Kalyo Kengyu, northern India: human heads hung up as trophies in a Naga village. Photograph.

A man of the Konyak Naga tribe, with plugs distorting his ears and a necklace indicating the number of heads he has cut off. Photograph.

A young man of the Konyak Naga tribe, India, holding a human head. Photograph.

Sarawak: preserved and decorated human heads taken and strung up by Sea Dayaks. Photograph.

Sarawak: Sea Dayak men at a head feast. Photograph.

Headhunting and the body in Iron Age Europe / Ian Armit.

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Headhunters

Images from the collections

Images referencing Headhunters

Works from the collections

Sarawak: preserved and decorated human heads taken and strung up by Sea Dayaks. Photograph.

Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: the Hall of Primitive Medicine. Photograph.

Trophies of a headhunter's house of the Chang Naga tribe, India, including human skulls. Photograph.

Sarawak: Sea Dayak men at a head feast. Photograph.

Headhunting and the body in Iron Age Europe / Ian Armit.

Headhunters

Images from the collections

Images referencing Headhunters

Works from the collections

Sarawak: preserved and decorated human heads taken and strung up by Sea Dayaks. Photograph.

Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: the Hall of Primitive Medicine. Photograph.

Trophies of a headhunter's house of the Chang Naga tribe, India, including human skulls. Photograph.

Sarawak: Sea Dayak men at a head feast. Photograph.

Headhunting and the body in Iron Age Europe / Ian Armit.

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