- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Human calvaria; the sutures are not fused.
- Long description
- Human calvaria with un-fused sutures. The frontal is almost completely unattached. There is a portion of the Proper Left zygomatic process still present. The bone appears weathered. There are two small holes on either side of the central parietal suture.
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Pochuri
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1927
- Date collected
- By 1927
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1929
- Materials and processes
- Material Human Bone
- Dimensions
- Height: max 130 mm, Width: max 124 mm, Length: max 149 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1923.85.678
- Research and responses
The accession book entry states that this ancestral remain, which was donated to the PRM in 1929, had come from a mortuary urn which had previously been sent by Hutton in 1927. The urn is most likely to be 1923.85.421: "Pottery urn decorated with incised lines and with perforated lugs, it contained a woman's skull. From a granary at Laruri (Karami)....".
In the Hutton photograph collection there are a number of undated photographs of pots, pottery and pottery-making, including funerary pottery, at Laruri. Some identical pottery urns to 1923.85.421 are shown in several of the photographs. (See for example 1998.220.9.5-.8; 1998.221.8.6-.9; 1998.222.27.1-.8). [JMC 28/03/2025]
During a visit of Naga elders and tribal leaders in June 2025, members of the delegation identified misspellings of village names and provided updated tribal affiliations for objects and ancestors associated with certain villages. In consultations with Talamong Khiamniungan, Executive Chairman of the Khiamniungan Tribal Council, the following information was confirmed: Laruri village, now in Meluri District, is a Pochury Naga - not a Khimaniungan Naga - village. It was agreed that the cultural group for the ancestor would be changed from Khiamniungan to Pochury Naga, and that Pochury Naga would be added to the cultural group field for all objects and photographs from Laruri. [JMC 16/07/2025]
Search terms: Physical Anthropology, Death, Skull
