Prehispanic Mexican Body Modification

Speaking of Mexico, another gringo expat down here in the body modification world is IAM:Gorilla (who makes the gorgeous glass jewelry that BMEshop stocks). Anyway, he’s down in Oaxaca and sent some photos of Olmec pottery such as these prehispanic clay ear spools:

Here you can see some being worn in a piece of sculpture:

And finally, a sculpture of a baby in a head-shaping cradle (the cradle puts pressure on the skull, shaping it and giving it a distinctive sloped appearance).

2 thoughts on “Prehispanic Mexican Body Modification

  1. The following comments were imported from our old comment system:

    Posted on 11-02-2005 15:42:53 by EziliGede
    Cranial shaping…fascinating. I wonder if this is still practiced??

    Posted on 11-02-2005 18:26:52 by glider
    Cranial shaping isn’t being practised any more anywhere as far as I know, although there are still people living with it.

    Posted on 11-02-2005 18:27:31 by Micrurus
    Cranial shaping was also very practiced still in Peru, in Lima in the Museum of Anthropology some skulls can be seen, but as far as I know it’s not practiced anymore (at least here in Peru).

    Posted on 11-02-2005 20:20:21 by glider
    Yes, some of the best skull shaping comes out of Peru… There are also regions of Africa that practised it until quite recently.

    Posted on 11-03-2005 18:10:15 by Sneezy
    they say that there are some tribes in the areas of the white nile or blue nile region of sudan that still practice this, i met a fellow that had his head shaped he was from the upper white nile region in sudan he was an older fellow

    Posted on 11-03-2005 18:12:13 by Sneezy
    Oh yeah i asked him how they did the head shaping, he told me that the family used twine or rope to bind the head when the kids are very v ery young and that they would tighten the binding every few weeks

    Posted on 12-08-2005 00:54:59 by Ryan
    I’d do it to my kids just to screw with em….I know I definately should be shot

  2. fucking gorilla glass jewelry ,. explointing kids in oaxaca !!!!!!! putos gringos!!!!!

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