Re: Skull binding and Neandertals
H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
15 Nov 1995 23:03:18 -0500
Philip <pdeitik@bcm.tmc.edu> writes:
>possibility; however, in the case of the meso-americans, head binding was
>a class/status symbol which most likely developed as the civilization
>advanced from hunter gatherer tribes. Foot binding in china was done for
Where's the connection? What does head binding have to do with
"high class" other than "high" in "high forehead"?
Is there some rule someplace that says that high class people
bind the heads of their children?
> It would seem that anatomical alteration is a somewhat permanent way of
>declaring 'I was born of X* and Y*, see!'. And since these processes must
>be started when one is young they cannot be duplicated by the lower
An easier explanation is that they did it to look like others
who had high foreheads. Eventually the Neandertal types
died out and there was no need for it. It could be that some
small tribe got stuck with some genes that kept producing
flat-tops and they kept the head binding. AFter a while they
forgot why.
--
Regards, Mark
http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey
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