Headhunting

Headhunting is the practice of hunting a human and collecting the severed head after killing the victim, although sometimes more portable body parts (such as ear, nose, or scalp) are taken instead as trophies.

The headhunting practice has been the subject of intense study within the anthropological community, where scholars try to assess and interpret its social roles, functions, and motivations.

Anthropological writings explore themes in headhunting that include mortification of the rival, ritual violence, cosmological balance, the display of manhood, cannibalism, dominance over the body and soul of his enemies in life and afterlife, as a trophy and proof of killing (achievement in hunting), show of greatness, prestige by taking on a rival's spirit and power, and as a means of securing the services of the victim as a slave in the afterlife.

[citation needed] Some experts theorize that the practice stemmed from the belief that the head contained "soul matter" or life force, which could be harnessed through its capture.

[3] In Southeast Asia, anthropological writings have explored headhunting and other practices of the Murut, Dusun Lotud, Iban, Berawan, Wana and Mappurondo tribes.

Other reasons for headhunting included capture of enemies as slaves, looting of valuable properties, intra and inter-ethnic conflicts, and territorial expansion.

Italian anthropologist and explorer Elio Modigliani visited the headhunting communities in South Nias (an island to the west of Sumatra) in 1886; he wrote a detailed study of their society and beliefs.

He found that the main purpose of headhunting was the belief that, if a man owned another person's skull, his victim would serve as a slave of the owner for eternity in the afterlife.

Kenneth George wrote about annual headhunting rituals that he observed among the Mappurondo religious minority, an upland tribe in the southwest part of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Another successful migration by the Iban was from the Saribas region into the Kanowit area in the middle of the Batang Rajang river, led by the famous Mujah "Buah Raya".

The natives who participated in Brooke-approved punitive expeditions were exempted from paying annual tax to the Brooke administration and/or given new territories in return for their service.

During the third and final expedition, Brooke built a large cannon called Bujang Sadok (Prince of Sadok Mount) to rival Rentap's cannon nicknamed Bujang Timpang Berang (The One Arm Bachelor) and made a truce with the sons of a famous chief, who supported Rentap in not recognizing the government of Brooke due to his policies.

The Iban were noted for headhunting, and were later recognised as good rangers and trackers during military operations, during which they were awarded fourteen medals of valour and honour.

[6] The Moluccans (especially Alfurs in Seram), an ethnic group of mixed Austronesian-Papuan origin living in the Maluku Islands, were fierce headhunters until the Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia suppressed the practice.

A headhunting raid would often strike at workers in the fields, or set a dwelling on fire and then kill and behead those who fled from the burning structure.

[20] At the Battle of Tamsui in the Keelung Campaign during the Sino-French War on 8 October 1884, the Chinese took prisoners and beheaded 11 French marines who were injured, in addition to La Galissonnière's captain Fontaine.

A few visited the place where they were stuck up, and were glad to leave it—not only on account of the disgusting and barbarous character of the scene, but because the surrounding crowd showed signs of turbulence.

At the camp also were eight other Frenchmen's heads, a sight which might have satisfied a savage or a Hill-man, but hardly consistent with the comparatively enlightened tastes, one would think, of Chinese soldiers even of to-day.

In the evening Captain Boteler and Consul Frater called on General Sun, remonstrating with him on the subject of cutting heads off, and allowing them to be exhibited.

Consul Frater wrote him a despatch on the subject strongly deprecating such practices, and we understand that the general promised it should not occur again, and orders were at once given to bury the heads.

After Shang Yang's reforms, the Qin armies adopted a meritocracy system that awards the average soldiers, most of whom were conscripted serfs and were not paid, an opportunity to earn promotions and rewards from their superiors by collecting the heads of enemies, a type of body count.

When a battle ended, the warrior, true to his mercenary origins, would ceremoniously present trophy heads to a general, who would variously reward him with promotions in rank, gold or silver, or land from the defeated clan.

[24]Headhunting has been a practice among the Kukis,[25] the Wa,[23] Mizo, the Garo and the Naga ethnic groups of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar till the 19th century.

[27] Several tribes of the Jivaroan group, including the Shuar in Eastern Ecuador and Northern Peru, along the rivers Chinchipe, Bobonaza, Morona, Upano, and Pastaza, main tributaries of the Amazon, practiced headhunting for trophies.

Ancient Romans and Greeks recorded the Celts' habits of nailing heads of personal enemies to walls or dangling them from the necks of horses.

During World War II, Allied (specifically including American) troops occasionally collected the skulls of dead Japanese as personal trophies, as souvenirs for friends and family at home, and for sale to others.

In September 1942, the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet mandated strong disciplinary action against any soldier who took enemy body parts as souvenirs.

[46][51] Initially, British government spokespersons belonging to the Admiralty and the Colonial Office denied the newspaper's claims and insisted that the photograph was a forgery.

In response, Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttelton was forced to admit before the House of Commons that the Daily Worker headhunting photographs were indeed genuine.

[52] In response to the Daily Worker articles, headhunting was banned by Winston Churchill, who feared that further photographs would continue being exploited for communist propaganda.