M0018818EC: Human skull with herring bone design incised on forehead and lower jaw bound with plaited fibre

Previous title, replaced October 2020: Trophy Skull, bound with plaited fibre, herring bone design incised on forehead.

Photograph of a human skull attached to a wooden meat hook carved in form of a Janus head. Originally from British New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea). Purchased at auction by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1926 and accessioned in 1936 (accession number R10429/1936). Related images: M0018818EA, M0018818EB

October 1961

1 photograph sheet film negative; 10.2 x 12.7 cm

Wellcome Collection holds the accession register which provides an entry for the item: R10429/1936

Copyright is held by Wellcome Collection

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2022.

This item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.