Into the Amazon: Life on the River

For class on Monday morning we went to the HMNS to see the, "Into the Amazon: Life on the River," exhibit. I really didn't know what to expect because I didn't previously know anything about the amazon or the tribes that live in it. After the tour I was super impressed by everything I had seen and really want to learn more. I thought it was super cool that we weren't looking at ancient history, we were learning about stuff that has happened in the past 100 years.
The shrunken heads that we saw in pictures and in the case are what stood out the most to me in the exhibit. The Shuar tribe is the group of people who shrunk the heads of their enemies or invaders. The Shuar tribe is a feared tribe because they are very hostile. The heads that were shrunken were almost always men because men are the one who went hunting and would protect the tribe. The women would stay home to gather food, keep the fire going, and watch the children. The shrunken heads are made of the head of their enemy or an animal, such as a monkey, if the enemy's head was not obtained. The animal heads were used to teach children the process of shrinking a head, and to show tourist. The tribes would show the tourist monkey heads and tell them it was a human head.

How:

• Decapitate the human or animal.
• Take out skull and brain.
• Threw the brain and skull into the river as an offering to the anaconda.
• Sew close the mouth and eyes to keep away the vengeful spirit.
• Fill with large rocks to keep its shape.
• Soak in hot water. When the head is smaller than the rocks replace them with sand.

The men will then keep the head with them after shrinking it for good luck in battle. Having a shrunken head is also a sign of power. Even though having a shrunken head is impressive to have each person h=can only have two.

After our tour I asked our docent how they actually got a hold of these heads. She said that there is a man named Adam Mekler. Adam Mekler stumbled into a large quantity of artifacts from the Amazonian rainforest and people around the world began to know him as, "The Amazon Guy." He was approached by many people to give him things that they had got during travels and eventually his collection got really big. He then went to the museum and told them all about what he had and the museum decided to make an exhibit. His supply is where a majority of the artifacts in the displays came from. He has also written a book about the things he has collected.

These are a couple photos I took at the exhibit.