Headhunting

Headhunting is the practice of hunting a human and collecting the severed head after killing the victim, historically documented across a strikingly wide geographic range including Austronesia (Borneo, the Philippines, Taiwan, parts of Melanesia and New Zealand), mainland and South Asia, the Amazon Basin, Mesoamerica, and among the ancient Celts and Scythians of Europe. Some experts theorize the practice stemmed from a belief that the head contained the victim's soul matter or life force, which could be harnessed through its capture and added to the taking community's collective vitality; contemporary anthropologists generally treat its primary function as ceremonial and social rather than simply military, structuring and displaying hierarchical relationships between rival communities. The practice declined sharply under colonial suppression and Christian missionary activity through the early twentieth century.