Bioarchaeologists confirm museum shrunken head as human remains

Micro-CT scan of tsantsa - Content Warning: This article contains digital visualizations of Ancestral human remains. While this work is part of an ongoing partnership with representatives of the associated Indigenous communities, they may be distressing to those of communities that have experienced trauma from past and ongoing colonialism. Researchers from Western University have verified the authenticity of a South American tsantsa (shrunken head) as human remains, an important step in the global effort toward decolonization and preserving and understanding Indigenous history. The findings were published today in the high impact journal PLOS One . Using clinical computed tomography (CT) and high-resolution micro-CT scans, researchers were able to determine the tsantsa currently held in the collection at Chatham-Kent Museum in Chatham, Ont., is in fact real human remains and not a counterfeit made from animal body parts or other alternatives often used in commercial reproductions. This is the initial step in determining of the authenticity of this subject. https://news.westernu.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/tsantsa-video-1.mp4 - VIDEO: An animation of the 3D rendering of the tsantsa, based on the micro-CT scans CT scans produce two-dimensional images of a "slice" of a body or body part, which are then collected and layered to construct three-dimensional images.