The practice of human trophy collecting involves the acquisition of human remains. The intent may be to demonstrate dominance over the deceased, such as scalp-taking or forming necklaces of human ears or teeth, or to commemorate the deceased, such as the veneration of the relics of saints. It can be done to prove ones success in battle, or to show off one's power to others. Murderers' collection of their victims' body parts have also been described as a form of trophy-taking; the FBI draws a distinction between souvenirs and trophies in this regard.
While older customs generally included the burial of human war trophies along with the collector, such items have been sold in modern times.
Trophies of dominance
Headhunting has been practiced across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania for millennia. One analysis of the practice in early North American societies linked it to social distance from the victim.
- For example, groups such as the Scythians collected the skulls of the vanquished to make a skull cup.
- The practice continued up until the 20th century in the Balkans, and occurred on a smaller scale during World War II and the Vietnam War. About 60% of the bodies of Japanese soldiers recovered in the Mariana Islands and returned to Japan lacked skulls.
In North America, it was common practice before, during or after the lynching of African-Americans for those involved to take souvenirs such as body parts, skin grafts, bones, etc.
Trophies of commemoration
- The Aghori Hindu sect in India collects human remains which have been consecrated to the Ganges river, making skull cups, or using the corpses as meditation tools.
- Tibetan Buddhists employ the kangling, a trumpet made from a human thighbone
- The scrotum of the last male Aboriginal Tasmanian, William Lanne, was crafted into a tobacco pouch after his death.
- In Wallace Terry's book, Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans, Specialist 5 Harold "Light Bulb" Bryant, Combat Engineer, 1st Cavalry Division, U.S. Army, An Khe, February 1966 - February 1967, relates:
Well, these white guys would sometimes take the dog-tag chain and fill that up with ears. For different reasons. They would take the ear off to make sure the VC was dead. And to confirm that they had a kill. And to put some notches on they guns. If we were movin' through the jungle, they'd just put the bloody ear on the chain and stick the ear in their pocket and keep on going. Wouldn't take time to dry it off. Then when we get back, they would nail 'em up on the walls to our hootch, you know, as a trophy. They was rotten and stinkin' after awhile, and finally we make 'em take 'em down.
Body-snatching
Body-snatching may sometimes be conducted in order to retain a body part as a trophy.
See also
- American mutilation of Japanese war dead
- Human trophy taking in Mesoamerica
- Headhunting
- Maywand District murders
- Mokomokai: the much-traded and much-collected preserved tattooed heads of New Zealand Maori
- Scalping
References
