Body Modification
Modern Primitives:  How Primitive, How Modern?

As noted above in the figurine from Neolithic Romania and also on the female figurines from Ur with the elongated heads, scarification also makes its appearance in the archaeological record.  Indeed figurines are one of the best sources of indirect evidence of all types of modification of the skin and flesh.  Male figures from Nayarit, Mexico, ca. 200 BC to 300 AD, possess lines of scarification on the face, neck, arms, torso, and waist.  In 19^th century Zaire, carved female figurines were directly comparable to the women themselves, whose elaborate scarification patterns were used to ward off sickness and evil, attract benevolent spirits, bring good fortune, and also create beauty.  However, the hope for direct evidence of body modification practices is not an unreal one.  Lithic wear analysis studies have been conducted which demonstrate that stone tools used for shaving, scarification, finger amputations, and genital modifications leave a specific wear signature.  In that lithics survive from very early time periods and given the other early evidence for body modification, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect that evidence for modifications such as scarification may one day get pushed even further back.

[Above image: Interior View of the Medicine Lodge, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony, 1832, Mandan/Numakiki, Smithsonian American Art Museum]

Finally, any overview of prehistoric and more recent indigenous body modification practices would be remiss without the following brief mentions.  The ancient Maya, in addition to their ear spools, also wore labrets and nose ornaments, as well as filing and inlaying their teeth.  Tooth modifications such as these were performed in many parts of the world including complete removal of select teeth in the Late and Final Jomon periods (1400 to 400 BC) in Japan.  Beginning in the T’ang dynasty (AD 618 to 907) and continuing into the 20^th century, some Chinese women had their feet tightly bound in early childhood, producing radically deformed and small feet that were considered quite beautiful and referred to as “golden lily” feet.  Tight corsets in Europe once caused permanent changes in the rib cage and internal organs.  The Padaung women of Myanmar are famous for their elongated necks (achieved by pressing down the collar bones) that are encased in coiled brass neck rings.  The Maori of New Zealand created their famous facial tattoos via chiseling a groove into the skin and then applying ink.  Falling somewhere between body modification and performance of ritual, the Mandan of Upper Missouri historically suspended themselves via splints passed through their chests, arms, and legs as part of the Okipa world renewal ceremony, documented by George Catlin in 1832.  The examples are simply too numerous to recount, but even a brief overview makes it clear that body modification is anything but modern or unusual.  It would be the rare culture indeed that did not participate in some form of it.