Skull deformation.

Traditional African hairstyle. Africa Zaire. Skull deformation. Mangbetu. African tribe. Mangbetu Central Africa

Wife of a Mangbetu Chief, Belgian Congo 1925

Skull deformation.

Wife of a Mangbetu Chief, Belgian Congo 1925.

 The Mangbetu are people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, living in the so called Orientale Province. The majority live in the villages of Rungu, Poko, Watsa, Niangara, and Wamba. As a cultural identity marker and sign of tribal affiliation, a cranial deformation was in the infants, especially among higher-ranking tribal families, performed by tying together with braided vines. According to the idea Mangbetu itself should thus also improve thinking skills and ability to learn.

Source: The dark continent. Africa, the landscape and the people 1931, by Hugo Adolf Bernatzik (1897-1953)


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