Emily Chan
“Whether their heads were deformed in their early childhood in the region around the Black Sea, for example, and how they came back to Gotland is unclear.”
Cranial modification was practiced regularly in the Black Sea region. The women’s skulls were elongated, which was usually done by wrapping bandages around an infant’s head while the bones were still malleable.
This type of modification would not have affected cognition or development. However, more aggressive techniques, such as pushing on the skull with straps or weights, could put too much pressure on the brain.
The researchers can’t determine anything about the three women’s cognitive function just from analyzing the skulls, but they can learn about the importance of the practice and how it was adopted by other cultures.
The women stood out from their Viking counterparts. It appeared they were foreigners on the island and symbolized the Vikings’ commercial success.
Their elongated skulls were likely a sign of social status. They may have also represented beauty or membership of a particular social group.
“It is possible that all these aspects came together, and the deformed skulls were an expression of a social elite and thus signaled status, and inevitably, attractiveness,” stated Toplak.
