Vatican City, Dec 16 (AFP) The Vatican museum hasreturned a shrunken head to Ecuador, relinquishing the wizenedcranium of an Amazon warrior nearly 100 years after it wastaken by a missionary.
The grisly body part -- which belonged to the Shuarindigenous people -- was handed over during EcuadorianPresident Lenin Moreno's visit to Pope Francis on Saturdayafter months of negotiations, the Vatican said.
It is very rare for a historical artifact to bereturned by the Vatican museums, which boast one of thelargest collections of art and archaeology in the world.
The fist-sized capitulum, which never went on show, isbelieved to have been a war trophy for the Shuar, whomummified and kept the heads of their warrior enemies, as wellas their heroes.
The Shuar are still one of the most important ethnicgroups in the Amazon region. In recent years they have hit theheadlines for attempting to resist government-authorisedlarge-scale mining on land they claim as their own.
They used to be best known in the West for theirshrunken heads -- called "tsantsa".
Removing the skull, boiling the flesh then sowing upthe eyes, nose and mouth is believed to have trapped avengingsouls inside, or stored the wisdom of their elders.
The head, brought to the Vatican by a missionary in1925, will be given to the Pumapungo ethnographic museum inCuenca. (AFP)KUN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.