Head of Life: An Analysis of the Significance of the Head in the Andes

The human head held profound significance in Tiwanaku society (ca. 500–1150 CE), serving as the primary locus of personhood, identity, and agency rather than merely a symbolic or trophic object. This study reveals that the head was an active medium for encoding social affiliations, regional identities, and cosmological beliefs through intentional cranial modification, post-mortem curation, and iconographic representations. Bioarchaeological and mortuary evidence from the Akapana complex shows heads were carefully removed and treated as ritual objects, emphasizing their role in ancestral presence and social memory. Architectural depictions, including tenon heads and portrait vessels, further underscore the head's centrality in Tiwanaku cosmology and ritual practice.

Vicente-Sarmento, C.-A. (2026). Head of Life: An Analysis of the Significance of the Head in the Andes. The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology, 26(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.5206/uwoja.v26i1.21266