Body modifications and mutilations: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	ritual deformation

Photos

Peruvian elongated skulls, trephined male (left) and intact female (right), c. 1000 bc.

Ethiopia: Mursi

Bantu tribesman with greatly distended earlobes, Kenya.

Tattooed designs dating to c. 300–400 bc, found on the male burial in Kurgan II at Pazyryk, including detail from the right shoulder and right arm; in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

Padaung tribe woman wearing traditional brass neck rings and colorful headscarf sits indoors at a loom, weaving in Nyaungshwe, Myanmar.

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Topics

body decoration penis pin subincision silicone breast implant footbinding Head flattening Cicatrization human body cosmetic surgery plastic surgery human nervous system human eye human digestive system human respiratory system renal system human cardiovascular system human endocrine system human sensory reception human reproductive system human development