One of the hundreds of elongated skulls that were discovered in 1928 at Paracas Peninsula in Peru. Cranial deformation was practiced by the Paracas civilization (800-100 BCE) by tightly wrapping the head in cloth, during the first few years of life, in order to elongate the cranium

    • danielbln@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      1 year ago

      The brain has incredile plasticity and can reform connectivity in the craziest circumstances. I wouldn’t rule out negative side effects (maybe hardcore headaches) but in terms of information flow I think the brain would be fine.

      • Zaphod@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        True, you might right. Especially since it’s done at such an early stage, the brain should be able to adapt

  • FuckyWucky [none/use name]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Humans are so weird. how did this practice come about i wonder, did someone think ‘i want my child’s head to be long’ for reasons and did the cloth thing or did they go ‘I wonder what happens if i were to wrap this cloth around my baby’s head for years’

    • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is pretty fucking weird, but I can sort of see how a weird beauty ideal becomes the norm, and at least having a long skull isn’t automatically an impairment. Meanwhile the old Chinese bound the feet of their women, super painful and making them completely useless because they simply can’t walk or stand and have to be carried everywhere. Also a beauty ideal, but even more weird in my opinion because it’s straight up crippling