Mayans Practiced Head Binding to be More Beautiful
Attempting to bend and shape your baby’s skull into something more pleasing would likely get you arrested today, because it’s child cruelty. However, the practice of head binding in order to elongate the shape of the human skull is a practice that spans across many cultures. It goes back at least 10,000 years. The shape of the skull was a sign of status, with the higher status individuals with the more prominent deformations. It is debated among archeologists as to exactly why they pursued this form of beauty. Some say they were emulating the maize god, whose head was the shape of corn. Others say it was meant to imitate a jaguar’s skull. Whatever the reason, it was an instruction from the gods, that they might appear more noble.