| caption: |
Skull with buffalo horns. Head of mixed Chang and Ao looted from a head-hunting village. The head when severed from the body is skinned and boiled in a pot; then scraped and ornamented with horns or wood or bone. The object of this is that the dead man shall not hear the voices of his relatives calling him, and they will not therefore be warned by him but will come close in their search - so that their heads may be taken too. Sometimes a dog's skull is suspended over the man's with the same object - since the dog's yapping will deafen the man. Ao, Mokokchung village. |
| note: |
descriptions derived from original source material unless in square brackets or otherwise stated |
