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In Patagonia 2k years ago, it was common for people to modify skulls of babies
- jerhinesmith 11y agoSounds really interesting, but I'm getting a 503 from their site. :(
- mod 11y agohttp://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:RCg5wU9-XhMJ:www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151119-the-people-who-reshaped-their-skulls+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:RCg5wU9...
- jbrr 11y agoI was getting that as well, it's loading for me now if you check again.
- jerhinesmith 11y agoYep, working now. Thanks!
- idlewords 11y agoA friend from Sichuan told me that a less drastic form of head binding was common practice where she came from, though I can't seem to find references to it online.
- evincarofautumn 11y agoIt’s fascinating how various cultures modify their children’s bodies…also a bit unsettling, since it infringes on a person’s bodily integrity before they’re even properly a person. I find infant circumcision little different from head-binding or foot-binding—but that is a rather unpopular opinion here in the US.
- chimeracoder 11y ago> I find infant circumcision little different from head-binding or foot-binding—but that is a rather unpopular opinion here in the US. Circumcision is a lightning rod issue partly because it is often performed for religious reasons. One thing that's often overlooked when it's discussed, though: if the child grows up to be a woman (ie, transgender woman assigned male at birth), being circumcised makes gender reassignment surgery more complicated and difficult. It's still possible, but the doctors have less to work with for reconstruction.
- anon4 11y agoCircumcision and transgender issues in one sentence? You like playing with fire, don't you :) .
- ars 11y agoWhy do people only worry about physical body integrity on an infant? Parents have a HUGE impact on children mentally, yet no one makes much of a fuss about that. At the end of the day parents have full control over how their children will turn out, both mentally and physically. We should only be concerned about the end result: Are they doing good, or bad. Nebulous concepts like "bodily integrity" are meaningless.
- evincarofautumn 11y agoI generally agree with you, though I don’t think “bodily integrity” is nebulous at all. I don’t only worry about the physical—I just didn’t mention the mental because the article is about body modification.
- ars 11y agoMy point is don't worry about "bodily integrity", worry "are they doing good, bad, or neutral". Obviously we would see squishing a head as bad, but there are other modifications that are not so cut and dry. > I find infant circumcision little different from head-binding or foot-binding Why? Using my principle, circumcision is neutral, it does no harm, and has a slight benefit. But foot-binding does clear harm. How do you justify considering them the same?
- jhwhite 11y agoMy grandfather tells stories from when he was a boy, about his mother getting "caps" to put on her kids so they would have a "nicely" shaped skull.
- edge17 11y agoIf you don't mind me asking, where did your grandfather grow up that that was a thing?
- jhwhite 11y agoEither in South AL or Northwest FL.
- hantusk 11y agoIn Denmark, we do the opposite. It is common to make sure your baby sleep with their heads to different sides, so their skull won't be asymmetric or flat on one side. I've also heard that other cultures, like the back of the skull to be flat, and keep their babies head from turning with well-placed pillows.
- matt_morgan 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cranial_deformation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cranial_deformation And of course it's not just ancient ... my parents had my head shaped (and my brothers') over several years with metal and rubber bands, mostly in my mouth but sometimes attached to a frame wrapping around my neck, being slowly tightened over several years before puberty.
- meric 11y agoWow, do elaborate! What's the shape of your head now? Is it extreme? Would you choose to have you head shaped if you were given a choice? Why did your parents do it, is it a cultural thing, did their heads get shaped too?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- sneak 11y agoI believe the parent comment is referring to dental braces.
- SHIT_TALKER 11y agoIn case you aren't just playing along: He's making a joke about braces.
- vbrendel 11y agoDoes orthodontics really fall under cranial deformation? ;-)
- matt_morgan 11y agoI know, it wasn't a perfect comparison :-). My jaw, not my cranium. But--it really was basically cosmetic, as are most braces (though our orthodontist invented enough of a reason that my parents didn't feel like they were being extravagant and superficial, and I think insurance even covered it).
- 11y ago
- physicsyogi 11y agoI wonder what effect this has on brain development.
- discardorama 11y agoWow. Is this the BBC? FTA: "In 2009 a team of archaeologists found intreaguing remains at an ancient burial." I didn't read any more. I expected better proofreading from the BBC! Sorry for the digression, but my OCD kicked in :(
- silveira 11y agoI wonder if this modifications increased the brain volume, and if this was a motivation.
- allendoerfer 11y agoThis is still a thing today, but unintentional and to a mich smaller extent. In some cultures babies are put in tight clothes and lay flat on their backs most of the time, which gives them a less round skull.