During times of crisis and social change, when people were looking for new ways to define themselves as a group. As such, they engaged in practices like cranial deformation, which were believed to have either helped or damaged political reintegration. This practice helped unite local elites and made it easier for people to come to terms on aking join efforts to boost agriculture and cattle rearing, managing irrigation, or fending off foreign invasions such as the growing Inca empire.
People can say that the women whose heads were elongated were from the royal family. Carbon and nitrogen tests on the bones showed that Collagua women with pear-shaped heads ate a wider variety of foods. Also, compared to other women, these ones suffered much less physical and domestic violence. So, this proves that they were special.
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This method of cranial deformation changed the shape of the head, but it didn’t change the head’s size, weight, or volume, which are all things that normal human heads have. This is where the most interesting things about the Paracas skulls become clear. The skulls from Paracas are unlike any other skulls. The Paracas have skulls that are at least 25% bigger and up to 60% heavier than the average human skull.
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Contrary to what scientists have suggested, researchers don’t think that the methods used by the tribes could have made these traits. Not only do the skulls have different weights, but their structures are also different. Paracas skulls only have one parietal plate, while human skulls have two. Researchers have been trying to figure out who these people with such long skulls used to be for decades, but they still don’t know.
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