Tower skull

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Tower skull

In human medicine, a tower skull (technically turricephalus , stenocephalus or craniostenosis ) is understood to be a special skull shape that is characterized by a pronounced increase in height. This form can be caused either by a disturbed growth process or by artificial interventions during the growth.

Natural causes

Among other things due to premature ossification ( craniosynostosis )

  • the coronal suture ( coronal suture ) with the result of a cylindrical ( Turrizephalus ) or conical ( Pyrgozephalus ) shape of the skull.
  • the arrow suture ( Sutura sagittalis ).
  • of the lambdoid suture ( suture lambdioidea ) with the result of a short wide skull.
  • part of a suture resulting in complete asymmetry of the skull, crooked skull ( plagiocephalus ).

Artificial shaping

Artificial skull deformation from the Nazca culture

By bandaging the head in infancy until the end of growth at around 20 years of age, the rear skull can reach a considerable length. This custom originated in Central Asia in the 1st century . It reached Central Europe in the 5th century with the invading Huns . Evidence of tower skulls can be found in the graves of Alemanni , Avars , Burgundians , Franks , Goths and Thuringians , where this custom was in vogue for about two to three generations.

30 tower skulls were excavated in old Bavaria, 23 were excavated in central Germany, that is over 20 percent of all known in Europe. Graves from the 2nd third of the 5th century were discovered in the necropolis on Frauenberg near Leibnitz ( Flavia Solva ) in Austria . Five of the more than 400 individuals have deformed skulls, including a 50-year-old man and four children between the ages of two and 10. The first discovery of deformed skulls in Italy was in Collegno. An elderly man and a child show the characteristic deformities of the skull.

In South America, too, the Indians , Maya , especially the Inca in today's Peru , used to sculpt the skull for cosmetic reasons.

See also

literature

  • Joachim Schüring: Big headed. In: Adventure archeology . Spektrum 5, Heidelberg 2007, ISSN  1612-9954 , p. 26.
  • Maurizio Buora: The Goths in the Eastern Alps. In: Archeology in Germany. Issue 1, 2010, p. 58.

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