An overmodelled skull is a skull covered with various materials to reconstruct the appearance of a human head. This technique of art and religion is described in many countries throughout the ages.

Origins

A custom that has existed since the

Neolithic era The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

, it is widespread in

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

and the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

. It originated as a cult of ancestors and consists of covering the dry skull with a plastic material, such as earth, clay, ash, plaster or lime. Skulls can be embellished with pigments, jewellery etc. Sometimes, skulls of animals are also over-modelled.Anthony JP Meyer, ''Oceanic Art'', Könemann, 1995, p.382

Gallery

File:Crâne surmodelé du Vanuatu.jpg, Overmodelled skull from

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. File:Basel Museum der Kulturen Crâne surmodelé Vanuatu 25102013 2.jpg, Overmodelled skull, Vanuatu. File:Exposition "Cheveux chéris" (musée du quai Branly, Paris) (8168058284).jpg, Skull in the musée du quai Branly. File:Marratampirivit overmodelled skull-ETHOC 010205-IMG 2277-black.jpg, Skull of the musée d'ethnographie de Genève, 19th. File:Crâne néolithique surmodelé (musée archéologique, Amman, Jordanie) (39030812611).jpg, Overmodelled skull in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

, neolithic era.

References

Articles annexes

Skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

Papua New Guinean art Papua New Guinean art has a long rich diverse tradition. In particular, it is world-famous for carved wooden sculpture: masks, canoes and story-boards. Papua New Guinea also has a wide variety of clay, stone, bone, animal and natural die art. Many ...

Plastered human skulls Plastered human skulls are human skulls covered in layers of plaster, typically found in the ancient Levant, most notably around the modern Palestinian city of Jericho, between 8,000 and 6,000 BC (approximately 9000 years ago), in the Pre-Pottery ...

Bibliography

* Alain Nicolas, ''Art papou'', Nouvelles Éditions Scala, Paris, 2000 & ''L'art papou : Austronésiens et Papous de Nouvelle-Guinée'' (catalogue d'exposition, Musée de

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, 2000. * Maxime Rovere, Magali Melandri, ''Rouge kwoma : peintures mythiques de Nouvelle-Guinée : exposition, Paris, Musée du quai Branly, 14 octobre 2008-4 janvier 2009'', Réunion des musées nationaux : Musée du quai Branly, Paris, 2009, . * * Anthony JP Meyer, ''Oceanic Art'', Könemann, 1995. * Arthur C. Aufderheide, ''Overmodeled Skulls'', Heide Press, 2009 Papua New Guinean culture Art by country Indigenous art {{art-stub