A Comparative Taphonomic Analysis of 24 Trophy Skulls from Modern Forensic Cases^,

Abstract

Cranial remains retained from fallen enemies are commonly referred to as "trophy skulls," and many such crania were acquired as souvenirs by U.S. servicemembers during WWII and the Vietnam conflict. These remains increasingly have become the subject of forensic anthropological analysis as their possessors, typically veterans or their relatives, try to discard or repatriate them. The present research uses a qualitative analytical approach to review 24 cases of reported trophy skulls (14 previously unpublished cases and 10 from the literature) to determine which perimortem and postmortem characteristics are most useful for generating a taphonomic profile. Overall, the taphonomic signature of trophy remains includes traits relating to acquisition and preparation, ornamental display, and subsequent curation. Contextual evidence and the biological profile also are considered when determining the possible origin of human cranial remains as a trophy skull. Thorough taphonomic analysis will aid in identifying these types of remains as trophy skulls.

A Critical Picture of Racism, Trophy Taking, and Forensics: Life Magazine May 22, 1944 “Picture of the Week”

“…The acquisition of human remains from enemy dead as trophies and souvenirs has been documented throughout human history and continued to modern times. (2)(3)(4) During WWII, the practice of taking enemy body parts was especially common in the Pacific theater, the grim culmination of pervasive anti-Asian racism in the United States that allowed for the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans, dehumanizing wartime propaganda that included disturbing hunting metaphors of Japanese soldiers, and hatred stirred by events at Pearl Harbor. (2,(4)(5)(6)(7) No comparable evidence of this practice has been documented in the European theater.…”

“…(2)(3)(4) During WWII, the practice of taking enemy body parts was especially common in the Pacific theater, the grim culmination of pervasive anti-Asian racism in the United States that allowed for the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans, dehumanizing wartime propaganda that included disturbing hunting metaphors of Japanese soldiers, and hatred stirred by events at Pearl Harbor. (2,(4)(5)(6)(7) No comparable evidence of this practice has been documented in the European theater. (4,5,7) In fact, all known WWII trophy skulls in the forensic record have been identified as Japanese, illustrating an apparent ideologic difference between the two theaters.…”

“…(4,5,7,8) Nevertheless, the practice continued, and Japanese remains have been documented in a range of settings, including display on military vehicles, home candle ornamentation, and a letter-opener given to President Franklin D. Roosevelt by a Pennsylvania Congressman, reportedly made from the arm bone of a Japanese soldier. (2,5) Life Magazine "Picture of the Week" One of the most high-profile cases of trophy taking during WWII was featured in the May 22, 1944 Life Magazine "Picture of the Week" by Ralph Crane (Figure 1). The magazine featured a full-page photograph of a young woman seated at her desk looking at a human skull with signatures on the cranium captioned, "Arizona war worker writes her Navy boyfriend a thank-you note for the Jap skull he sent her."…”

Towards a Method for Discerning Sources of Supply within the Human Remains Trade via Patterns of Visual Dissimilarity and Computer Vision

“…that themselves are indicative of primary burial/deposition and/or secondary storage conditions or use (e.g. Pokines 2015a,b;Yucha et al 2017). We end up with 33 different views for each of the neural network training images, thus 363 images generated using standard data augmentation techniques (Tanner & Wong 1987;Van Dyke & Meng 2012).…”

Serious Enquiries Only, Please: Ethical Issues Raised by the Online Human Remains Trade

“…A separate area of research concerns the analysis and repatriation of the skulls of fallen 'enemy' soldiers taken primarily during past American conflicts, especially WWII and the Vietnam War (e.g. Harrison 2006Harrison , 2012Bass 1983;Sledzik and Ousley 1991;Weingartner 1992;Seidemann et al 2009;Yucha et al 2017).…”