Shuar

The Shuar tribe lives between the Napo and Marañon Rivers. They are famous for their blowguns, large signal drums, and for making shrunken heads. They shrink the heads of their enemies killed in battle. This is a very interesting procedure, though it is quite gruesome. They begin by cutting off the skin and sewing together the lips. They then proceed to boil it with a secret plant so that it shrinks and so that the hair will not fall out. They then insert hot sand and rocks into the skull to shrink it more. The head is then smoked, polished, and stored in a clay jar. This is just one of many methods of head shrinking used in Amazonia.

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