Throughout history, many cultures have artificially deformed the skulls of babies in order to achieve a flattened or elongated shape which was often associated with the ruling, or elite classes. Examples of artificial cranial deformation have been uncovered in Australia, the Middle East, Europe, Russia and the Americas in ancient times, as well as Oceanic and African tribes in modern times. When examined, most of these skulls exhibit features common to modern skulls, such as 3 cranial plates and sutures as well as a brain size of around 1200-1400 ccm.

 

On the other hand, some of the large elongated skulls unearthed from a cemetery in Paracas, Peru , possess other anomalous anatomical features such only 2 cranial plates and sutures, as well as a brain capacity of over 1500 cm, which is larger than many skulls today. These skulls, which are between 1500 and 3000 years old, have been described by some alternative researchers as evidence of extra-terrestrial aliens. While recent DNA results indicate they are entirely human, their genetic origin has yielded surprising results.

A case of skulls from the Andean Paracas culture, as seen in the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú in Lima. ( CC BY SA 3.0 )

Peru

Cone headed/elongated (dolichocephalic) skulls were first mentioned in 1851 in the book ‘Peruvian Antiquities’ by Mariano Rivero and John James von Tschudi. Dr. Tschudi, with credentials in philosophy, medicine and surgery, described dolichocephalism in two distinct Peruvian races which existed before the Incas; the Aymares and Huancas. The Huancas had the most pronounced dolichocephalic traits, although Tschudi had little historical data on them. The Aymares had intermediate dolichocephaly.

Even at that time scientists, influenced by Samuel Morton who had a huge collection of Amerindian skulls, were proclaiming that the skulls had been artificially elongated by head binding , a belief which remains the dominant paradigm encompassing the Paracas skulls, the Australian Kow Swamp 5 and Cohuna skulls and dozens of crania from Europe. However, as far back as 1851 Dr. Tschudi observed, “Two crania (both of children scarcely a year old), had in all respects, the same form as those of adults. We ourselves have observed the same fact in many mummies of children of tender age…The same formation of the head presents itself in children yet unborn, and of this truth we have had convincing proof in sight of a foetus enclosed in the womb of a mummy of a pregnant woman…aged 7 months!”

Possible methods used by the Collagua people to shape a child's head. ( Public Domain )

Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello excavated a large and elaborate graveyard on the Paracas peninsula from 1922 to 1925, and discovered family tombs containing 429 mummies which were individually wrapped in coloured woven cloth. At least 90 of these bodies exhibited large, elongated skulls, some larger than modern skulls!

These extraordinary skulls remained relatively unknown to the world until filmmaker Robert Connolly produced a CD of them in 1995 titled ‘The Search for Ancient Wisdom.’ Researcher Lumir Janku studied these photos of the anomalous skulls and divided them into 3 types; pre-modern, Conehead 1,2 and 3 and a large skull he named the ‘J’ skull. The ‘pre-modern’ skull has some archaic features such as pronounced brow ridges, a robust lower jaw and an occipital ridge on the bottom back of the skull. Its massive cranial arch, to Janku, suggests “that the skull belongs to a representative of an unknown premodern or humanoid type.” However, this classification creates problems because pre-modern hominins are not recognised in the ancient Americas by mainstream archaeologists.

His illustration indicates that the brain of the ‘premodern’ was of a similar capacity to modern humans but lacking in developed frontal lobes, despite its extreme elongation.

Proto Nazca deformed skull, c 200-100 BC. ( CC BY SA 4.0 )

The Coneheads, as evidenced from three different specimens, C1, 2 and 3 may have developed from the ‘pre-modern’ type but exhibit a much larger brain. Many also possess a pronounced bump above the frontal lobes. They may have belonged to hominins of a larger stature than modern populations.

Janku also identified a ‘J’ type of skull which has an enormous cranial vault ranging from 2600 ccm to 3200 ccm, and eye sockets which are about 15% larger than in modern populations. Whether he was able to measure these skulls or merely made an educated guess from observing the photos, is unknown.

A “cone-head” type of skull. ( Lumir G. Janku )

Ignored by anthropologists who consider all elongated  skulls to be the result of head binding, the phenomenon was highlighted in the 2012 book by researchers David Childress and Brien Foerster, ‘The Enigma of Cranial Deformation.’ Childress and Foerster were careful to avoid sensationalizing the skulls by calling them a separate or alien species, but their research has raised many questions about the origins and purpose of cranial deformation . Their suggestion that an elite race of elongated skull people once roamed the planet would also account for the large number of skulls around the world which were artificially deformed by people who wanted to emulate their ‘gods’.

In 2014, Juan Navarro, owner of the Museo Arequeologico Paracas, which houses 35 unique skulls, allowed a team of researchers led by Brien Foerster and L.A. Mazulli to facilitate preliminary DNA testing of five of them. Initial reports from an unnamed geneticist in Texas claimed that the skulls have mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far….a new human-like creature, very distant from Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans…I’m not sure it will even fit into the known evolutionary tree.” Unfortunately, numerous alternative websites proclaimed that the skulls were from aliens or Nephilim, the giants mentioned in the book of Genesis, which negatively impacted the research.

After complaints from archaeologists that the original samples were contaminated, a second round of DNA testing in 2016 involved samples taken from three of the skulls, including an infant. These skulls were dated from 2,000 to 800 years old. The samples, taken from hair and bone powder, were sent to three different labs with no mention of their origin. The results were surprising , showing a strong link between Mesopotamian and Eastern European populations. Three hair samples all showed Haplogroup H2A which is most frequently found in Eastern Europe, while the bone powder from the most elongated skull came back as T2B, which originates in Syria. Many of the Paracas skulls still contain traces of red hair which is not found in South American populations. Foerster exclaimed, “No academics as far as we can tell can explain why some of the skulls that still have hair are red or even blond. The idea that this is from time or bleaching has now been disproven by 2 hair experts. For the ancient Paracas people, at least, they had blonde to reddish hair that is 30% thinner than NATIVE American hair. It is GENETIC!”

He also commented , “We are likely looking at a sub-species of humanity as regards to the Paracas. It seems to be a lot of DNA evidence from extreme eastern Europe and extreme western Asia. More specifically, I’m talking about the area in between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea where ancient elongated skull people lived about 3,000 years ago…It appears that the largest elongated skulls on the planet have been found A in Paracas, Peru and B in the Caucasus area between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea.”

Independent ancient researcher and filmmaker, L.A. Marzulli, describes other anomalies of the Paracas skulls.

The foramen magnum “is completely different than a normal human being, it is also smaller, which lends itself to our theory that this is not cradle head boarding, it is genetic.”

Some of the skulls have a pronounced zygomatic arch (cheek bone).

Many skulls have no sagittal suture, a connective tissue joint between the two parietal bones of the skull. However, this fusing of the sagittal suture may be a direct result of head binding or an indication of advanced age of the individuals

They have unusual eye sockets.

Top Image: The cemetery is about 1,000 years old and the skulls were studied in more detail in 2012. ( Cristina García / INAH )

For the rest of this article please use source link below