By: April Carson
Elongated skulls have been found all over the planet. No matter what ancient cultures are being studied, it seems that nearly all ancient civilizations had people with elongated skulls in their society--even if only for a brief period of time!
A lot has changed since then and now we know how to culture them more reliably than ever before so they're no longer such an oddity as far back at least until relatively recent history when artificial cranial deformation became popular among some African tribes (and other groups like Polynesians).
Are these mysterious "elongation" types a result from this practice which involved cramming baby's head into one large object or did somebody just naturally end up looking different due natural discrepancies between bones/skulls without having to go through the intentional process of elongating their skulls?
The Paracas Elongated Skulls are particularly mysterious due to the fact that their DNA has not yet been successfully tested. Due to the shape of elongated skulls, there were some people who thought they belonged to an entirely different species but given the fact humans have over 7,000 known gene mutations, it can be expected for some people to have some unique skull-shapes and sizes.
Is that artificial cranial deformation?
Elongated skulls and artificial cranial deformation is something that has been around for a very long time. It’s common across many cultures, with different groups practicing it differently depending on where they are from in terms of space or timeline - but there's one thing all these ancient civilizations had going for them: intelligence!
The earliest examples of cranial deformation were thought to date back as far at the Proto-Neolithic Homo sapiens component (ninth millennium BC) from Shanidar Cave in Iraq and Neolithic peoples within Southwest Asia.
It is believed that modification during childhood was likely performed for various reasons such as group affiliation or demonstrating higher social status, but looking further into history we find it first appears around 400 Bc when Hippocrates mentions Macrocephaly - meaning long headed people named after their practice on modifying craniums extending beyond average height attained by adulthood.
Although long-skulled humans have been discovered all over the world, in this blog, we look at five of the world's most unusual findings involving elongated skulls.
Elongated Skull from Russia’s Stonehenge
Researchers in Russia made a strange find at an archeological site known as Arkaim back in 2015, according to reports. The ancient monument is thought to have been constructed in the 17th century BC and is referred to as Russia's Stonehenge.
The Crimean, 2,000-year-old elongated skull
During excavations at an ancient Sarmatian settlement in 2017, Russian researchers discovered the remains of a child with a freakishly elongated skull. "Elongated skulls were typical for the Sarmatian culture," Nikolay Sudarev, from the Archaeology Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
The Paracas Skulls
The Paracas Skulls are one of the most famous elongated skulls in history. Discovered by Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello more than 90 years ago, these bones have captured people's attention for centuries up to this point with their controversial claims about how large and heavy they may or may not be compared to regular human beings.
Mexico’s Elongated Skull
Archeologists in Mexico made a strange discovery while excavating an archaeological site known as "El Cementerio" near Onavas in 2012. The skulls were so unusual that the discoveries were referred to as such titles as "Alien-Like" skulls found in Mexico.
Bavarian Elongated Skulls
Researchers discovered a string of burial sites in Germany during the 1960s. Alongside regularly shaped skulls, the Bavarian skulls were unearthed near six modern southern German cities along the Danube River. Experts were perplexed by the remains, which are thought to date back to around 500 C.E. The elongated heads belonged to women who were most likely from a Bavarian Slavic group that settled along the Danube River during the sixth century.
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