Body Modification
Modern Primitives:  How Primitive, How Modern?

Intimately related to ear piercing, though not quite the same, is the gradual elongation of the ear lobe, the expansion of the piercing there, and the concomitant ability to wear increasingly larger ear ornaments such as plugs (typically solid circles) or spools (typically circles with a hole in the middle).  As with other forms of body modification, enlarged ear holes appear throughout prehistory and the world but perhaps nowhere more famously than in Central America. 

Among the ancient Maya, gods, rulers, and important ancestors of both sexes wore jewelry made of the most valuable materials in their sphere: jade and serpentine, amber, quartz, obsidian, shell, and even pearls.  However, the ear ornaments for which the Maya are particular known are ear flares, with a large flange at the front of the ear that was attached to a counterweight behind the ear via a cord that passed through the ear.  Ear flares were most commonly made of jade and obsidian, two materials that were highly valued by the Maya.  Their association with the elite of their society seems straightforward enough, however they also must have carried a ritual connotation as well since they’ve been found smashed to bits as part of building termination rituals and similarly ground up as part of blood letting and auto sacrifice rituals, which, broadly speaking, are more examples of body modification.

[Above image from A Forest of Kings, 1992, Freidel and Schele. "The twisted rope that hangs in front of his earflare transforms his head into the living embodiment of the glyphic name for the city. He is the kingdom made flesh." Note: Rope is brown and ear flare is green.]

At times, in prehistoric art, elongated ear lobes are also depicted without their spools or plugs.  Again, the Americas provide an example in the form of a gold figurine from the Inca of South America (AD 1440 to 1553) with ear lobes that extend nearly down to the neck – presumably created by having worn heavy ornaments.  From the other side of the globe, an ancient Chinese stone head of a bodhisattva (AD 550 to 577) and an Indian statue of the Buddha (ca. AD 600) depict elongated ear lobes as well.  Not unlike the Inca example, the elongated ear lobe of the Buddha is also thought to have derived from the wearing of heavy ornaments.  However, in the case of the Buddha, the subsequent elongated and empty ear lobes symbolize his previous life as a secluded prince and the wealthy lifestyle that he renounced in order to attain enlightenment.

[Seated Buddha with attendants, carved ivory sculpture from Kashmir, c. 8th century CE. In the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Mumbai (Bombay). Height 10 cm. Encyclopedia Britannica.]