The Intriguing Skull Elongation Custom of the Mangbetu People

There is no single standard of beauty. All over the world, across time and place, beauty standards are always evolving. Whether through cosmetic surgery, tattooing or scarification, people have developed various body modification practices to adhere to the popular beauty standards of the time.

For the Mangbetu people of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), one such practice in the 20^th century was skull elongation. The Mangbetu are renowned for their sophisticated art and music—one local harp has even sold for $100,000—but their skull elongation custom is arguably their most distinctive attribute.

In an ancient tradition called Lipombo, the Mangbetu ruling classes would tightly bind the heads of their female babies with a cloth. This was done because the Mangbetu believed that elongated heads were a status symbol denoting beauty, prestige and even intelligence.

The elongation would typically begin a month after the baby’s birth and would continue for about 2 years, until the desired shape was achieved. At that age range, there are spaces between the cranial bones which create soft spots (fontanelles) in the skull, thereby allowing for easy moulding. The baby’s brain would be able to adapt and grow into the modified shape of the skull without hassle. In adulthood, the elongated effect would be accentuated by wrapping the hair around a woven basket frame and holding it in place with pins—lending an air of regal elegance to the Mangbetu women.

The origin of skull elongation practices, which fall under artificial cranial deformation (ACD),  have been traced to ancient Egypt, France and the Maya tribe of Mexico. However, there is no evidence suggesting that the Mangbetu were influenced by the practices in these countries.

Skull elongation in DRC was prohibited by the Belgian colonial government and began to die out in the 1950s. Nonetheless, there are likely still some elderly Mangbetu women who sport this unique feature and even if there aren’t, the elongated skulls are adequately represented in Mangbetu sculptures.

In Africa, skull elongation is unique to the Mangbetu, but other forms of ACD called head moulding are performed in countries like Ghana and Nigeria. The practice involves using a towel dipped in hot water to gently press the baby’s head and then using the hands to mould it into the desired shape, usually over an extended period of time. Parents and caregivers do this to avert future embarrassment for children with irregular head shapes.

Though doctors generally condemn head moulding, medical scientists are divided over the risks associated with skull elongation. While some claim that skull elongation can negatively affect the brain’s lobes, resulting in cognitive, visual and motor impairments, others claim that its effects are superficial and have no real impact on the physiology of those who have undergone it.

The latter argument is hinged on the intercranial pressure of the infant remaining constant. This means that care must be taken to ensure that the intercranial pressure is not altered during the deformation process. Although they apparently lacked the the modern technology one might use to determine this, the Mangbetu seemed to know what they were doing as the practice persisted for decades and only stopped because of colonial influence.