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A road crew in Dorset, England found a mass grave of Viking bodies that appear to have been slaughtered by Britons, as their heads, torsos and legs were buried in separate graves and no weapons, equipment or clothing were found. The bones showed signs of utter brutality being delivered upon the poor fellows, but more intriguing is the fact that the Vikings teeth had horizontal lines deliberately filed into them. Archaeologists feel that this was done in order to appear more fearsome in battle, and that the excruciating filing of the teeth must have been done by a master craftsman.
Extreme body modification has taken an interesting turn in Japan. These lovely people above have had saline pumped into their foreheads for about two hours, a process that creates a rather, um, well… it makes a lump. And if you press your thumb into your forehead while the saline is pumping in, it makes a bagel, which is awesome? I don’t get it. There’s an interview with the intrepid Ryoichi “Keroppy” Maeda, who introduced the technique to Japan over at Vice Style. Lots more pics, but probably NSF-the needle-sensitive. Link
If you thought face tattoos were intense and are frightened of the guy who turned himself into The Lizard Man, then you are really going to be squeamish when it comes to the Scar Tattoos featured in this gallery. My favorite is the guy who got his dog tattooed on his arm. Link
What, did you think face-stretching and skin-piercing were modern fads? Not by a long shot! People have been undergoing painful procedure to modify their bodies (and their looks) for thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of years.
(Image credit: Flickr user Rita Willaert)
Lip stretching is a body modification that goes back 10,000 years and had been practiced all over the world, from Siberia to South America, from the Middle East to Europe, although there is no evidence that the custom traveled from one area to another. The procedure survives only in Africa and among some Amazonian tribes in South America. The practice is seen among women in the Mursi and Surma tribes of Ethiopia. The lower lip is pierced and a peg is inserted, to be replaced with a larger peg as the skin stretches. A plate or labret is inserted when the piercing is large enough. Traditionally, this is done as a young woman prepares to marry, but is now a personal decision rather than an obligation.
(Image credit: Wikipedia user Robrrb)
Skull binding has been practiced at various points in history in widespread parts of the world, with some evidence of Neanderthal skulls that had been shaped around 45,000 BCE in Iraq. The custom of head shaping has been most notable among skulls excavated in Peru, where the practice dates back 9,000 years. The skull can only be shaped during infancy. The bones eventually harden to the point that skull modification would only break the cranial bones. An infant’s skull would be wrapped with cloth (sometimes with wooden boards added) to restrict its expansion sideways, causing the head to grow long and tall instead. This practice was usually restricted to the wealthier classes. Reproductions of such skulls can be purchased online.
Not for the squeamish. At first glance, it seems improbable and downright impossible, but inmates are actually attempting to stand out from the crowd by having ink injected into the whites of their eyes. DamnCoolPics has a bit more information on the procedure:
Because the we had trouble getting the ink under the surface (and were able to “wash” it out of the small needle incisions), we tried the second procedure, on Josh using a 29ga needle and syringe, thinning down the ink very slightly with an antibiotic eyewash. Since the goal was simply to blanket the white of the eye in color, there wasn’t a need for fine detail. The first injection was shallow and appeared to dissipate on the surface, but the second injection was at the perfect level and formed a dark bubble of ink just over the sclera (in the third picture you can see some of the ink running back out of the injection hole).
Link. (via Cynical-C)
Surely some daring Neatoramanaut can beat this record:
ARLINGTON, Texas, May 11 (UPI) — A Texas body modification enthusiast said he broke a Guinness World Record by receiving 1,197 piercings in a single day.
Jeremy Stroud said Arlington body modification artist Tyson Turk spent about five hours May 2 inserting 800 needles into his back, 300 in his right arm, 50 in his leg and about 20 in his left arm, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported Monday.
Image by flickr user sean dreilinger used via Creative Commons license
Update 5/13/09 by Alex: if you can stand the loud music, here’s the video clip: Link [YouTube]
