Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SCALPING

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 287 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

SCALPING , the See also:

custom of removing the skin of the See also:skull, with See also:hair attached. Though generally associated with the See also:North See also:American See also:Indians, the practice has been See also:common in See also:Europe, See also:Asia and See also:Africa. The underlying See also:idea, as of similar mutilations of those slain in See also:battle, is the See also:warrior's wish to preserve a portable See also:proof or See also:trophy of his prowess. Scalping was the usual See also:form of See also:mutilation from the earliest times. See also:Herodotus (iv. 64) describes the practice among the Scythians. The See also:Abbe See also:Emmanuel H. D. Domenech (Seven Years' See also:Residence in the See also:Great See also:Desert of North See also:America, ch. 39) quotes the decalvare of the See also:ancient Germans, the capillos et cutem detrahere of the See also:code of the Visigoths, and the See also:Annals of See also:Flodoard, to prove that the Anglo-See also:Saxons and the See also:Franks still scalped about A.U. 879. In Africa it was, and doubtless is, as prevalent as are all barbarous mutilations.

Among the North American Indians scalping was always in the nature of a rite. It was common to those tribes See also:

east of the Rocky Mountains, in the See also:south-See also:west and upper See also:Columbia; but unknown apparently among the See also:Eskimo, along the north-west See also:coast, and on the Pacific coast west of the Cascade range and the Sierras, except among some few Californian tribes, or here and there in See also:Mexico and southward. Properly the See also:scalp could only be taken after a See also:fair fight; in more See also:recent times there seems to have been no such restriction. To facilitate the operation the braves wore See also:long See also:war-locks or scalping-tufts, as an implied See also:challenge. These locks were braided with See also:bright See also:ribbons or ornamented with a See also:feather. After the successful warrior's return the scalp or scalps captured were dried, mounted and consecrated by a See also:solemn See also:dance. Some tribes hung the scalps to their bridles, others to their See also:shields, while some ornamented with them the See also:outer seams of their leggings. Scalping was some-times adopted by the whites in their See also:wars with the Redskins, and bounties have been offered for scalps several times in American See also:history.

End of Article: SCALPING

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SCALP (0. Dutch schelpe, a shell) 		[next]
SCAMILLI IMPARES (" unequal steps," Fr. escabeaux i...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries