All language subtitles for Secrets.Unlocked.Series.1.Part.3.Shrunken.Heads.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

Mastrelli: Shrunken heads.

What are these
macabre curiosities?

Where do they come from?

How were they made?

Now scientists are using
advanced forensic technology

To find out who these
people really were.

They're uncovering a dark
tale of ancient ritual

To reveal the secrets
of shrunken heads.

For centuries, the
mysteries of the past

Have kept their secrets,

But there are
clues cast in gold,

Etched in stone,
written in blood.

We can unlock them.

(mysterious music)

There are thousands
of shrunken heads

In museums around the world.

Some on display,
others locked away.

And the shocking truth is,

Many of these are
real human heads.

Where did they come from?

How were they made?

And what's the true story

Behind this strange and
disturbing phenomenon?

Now scientists can finally
answer these questions

Using forensic science and
advanced computer modeling.

In the 19th century,

A gruesome curiosity captured
the public imagination

And created an obsession
for these exotic novelties,

Decapitated human heads,

Shrunk to a fraction
of their original size.

While they fascinated
the public,

Little attention was ever
paid to their origin.

Houlton: Shrunken heads
have long been viewed

As almost like
freak show ornaments

That would be put in displays,

Or in even private collections
for people to stare at,

Without anyone
really acknowledging

That this was once a living,
breathing individual.

Mastrelli: Doctor tobias
houlton is an anthropologist

Specializing in facial anatomy.

Today he is on a quest
to unlock the secrets

Of ritual shrunken heads.

Houlton: The intention of our
forensic investigation

Is that we can actually discover

The identity of the individual,

That it's not just
the so-called specimen

That's hidden behind
a glass cabinet,

But actually a living, breathing
person that once existed.

Who are they?

Where did they reside?

And how did they land
up as a shrunken head?

Mastrelli: The story begins
deep in the amazon rainforest,

And with a single
tribe, the shuar.

The tribe's ancestral homeland

Lies amongst the tributaries
of the amazon river,

In the remote jungle of ecuador.

With a reputation as
fearsome warriors,

The shuar were never conquered
by the spanish empire.

Over thousands of years they
mastered the macabre art

Of head shrinking before
it was banned in the 1960s.

The shuar called these
shrunken heads, tsantsa.

Felipe tsenkush is
a former president

Of the shuar federation.

These weren't
trophies of war.

They were more than
simply symbolic.

In a world in which
the spirits of the dead

Were as real as the living,

Shrunken heads served an
important, practical purpose.

Houlton: It was not about
the physical item.

It filled purely a practical,
spiritual function.

Mastrelli: Doctor tobias houlton
is traveling to the amazon

To the historic colonial
city of cuenca in ecuador.

Here on the edge
of shuar territory,

He wants to discover the
secrets of shrunken heads.

Houlton: I want to get to
understand the whole custom,

The people behind it,

As well as the victims
of the head shrinking.

Mastrelli: The city's
museum is home

To south america's largest
collection of shrunken heads.

Houlton hopes these heads, so
close to the shuar homeland,

Will hold more clues
about how they were made,

And who they were.

But he's about to discover
they're not what he expects.

With specialist
imaging technology

Used by crime scene
investigators,

He examines the heads
in forensic detail.

Infrared reflectology
captures infrared wavelengths

Beyond the range
of visible light

To reveal details
invisible to the naked eye.

Houlton: The benefit
of using this

Is that it will give me a
nice defined image of the skin

And give me a detailed idea

Of any changes in
the skin pattern,

Which will help identify if
this is a ceremonial tsantsa.

Mastrelli: It's the first time
this technology has been used

To examine the heads in
the museum's collection,

Revealing to curator,
tamara landivar,

Details she's never seen before.

And almost immediately,
houlton sees

There's something strange
about this shrunken head.

There's no doubt
this is a human head.

But a genuine
ceremonial shrunken head

Should have smooth
hairless skin,

Evidence that the
head had been prepared

Using the traditional
shuar technique

Of ironing the skin
with a heated rock.

The images reveal
the skin on this head

Is thicker and
rougher than expected.

Houlton: The individual that
was processing this head,

Didn't actually iron the skin

In quite the same
way as the shuar.

Mastrelli: This subtle detail,
invisible to the naked eye,

Suggests this is not a genuine
ceremonial shrunken head.

So if this was not
a ritual tsantsa,

What was the story behind
this shrunken head?

By the 1880s, the western
mania for shrunken heads

Had triggered a
twisted gold rush.

And this treasure wasn't
mined from the earth,

It was made from human flesh.

A single shrunken head
could be exchanged

For a gun or a machete, or
sold for between $5 and $25.

Not much for a human life,

But a small fortune in
19th century ecuador.

With serious money to be made,

The shuar began killing
to meet western demand.

Tribal warriors became
commercial head-hunters.

The guns triggered an
explosion in violence.

As a viscous circle of
supply and demand ensued,

Blame and retaliation
spiraled out of control.

(explosion from gunshot)

And it wasn't long
before outsiders

Joined the deadly treasure hunt.

In the towns and settlements
on the edge of the jungle,

Colonial settlers soon
learnt the ancient art

Of head shrinking.

Mastrelli: By the
late 19th century,

The shuar and the
colonial settlers

Were all making
shrunken heads to sell.

For the shuar, as
victims and perpetrators,

The consequences of this
twisted trade were catastrophic.

The proud shuar tribe was pushed
to the brink of extinction.

Gradually,
victorian obsession

Turned to modern repulsion.

From the 1930s onwards, the
trade in shrunken heads declined

Until it was eventually banned

By the ecuadorian
government in the 1960s.

Now, doctor tobias houlton wants
to set the record straight.

He wants to help restore
the shuar's reputation

As a proud ancient people,
using 21st century technology.

But first he must learn

The centuries old craft
of head shrinking.

Anthropologist, doctor
tobias houlton is on a mission

To reveal the secrets
of shrunken heads.

In cuenca, ecuador,

He's been investigating
this ancient ritual,

But now he's hoping to learn
more from the tribal elders

Of the shuar and apply his
findings in a unique experiment,

One that has been
years in the making.

Houlton: My earliest experience
of witnessing a shrunken head

Must have been when
I was in school,

Aged near enough
nine, ten years old.

And I remember
walking into a museum

And seeing this
specimen on display,

And immediately questions
were ringing in my head.

Who produced these
incredible specimens?

How did they do it?

Why did they do it?

Mastrelli: More recently,
houlton has been captivated

By one head above all others.

The shrunken head of a man
given to the mcmanus museum

In dundee, scotland in 1923.

Doctor tobias houlton
wants to discover

The effects of the
shrinking process.

Then with this information,

He'll attempt to reverse
engineer the process

That turned this man
into a shrunken head,

To create a computer-generated
reconstruction

Of the man's face as
he looked in life.

Houlton: I want to go ahead and
reconstruct a shrunken head

To its original full human form.

And this is essentially
to raise the dignity

Of that individual
and remind everyone

That this was actually
a human being.

Mastrelli: The trade in heads

Was banned over
half a century ago,

But the physical process
of making a ceremonial head

Has been handed down
by word of mouth

To today's tribal elders.

Shuar tribal elder,
nawech entsa kayap pedro,

Is one of the few
people alive today

Who know how to make
a ceremonial tsantsa.

For houlton, this meeting
is a unique opportunity

To discover the secrets of
the tsantsa at first hand.

Mastrelli: Nawech shares
his ancient knowledge,

Providing a blow by blow account

Of how to shrink a human head.

As houlton listens,

Nawech explains the
process in detail,

How to remove the
skull, eyes and tongue,

How to treat the skin
and how to dry it out.

Mastrelli: This unique
insight reveals the ritual

And technical complexity

Of making a genuine
ceremonial shrunken head.

Houlton: To actually
preserve a human head

Within a hot and
humid environment

Is something that
doesn't come naturally.

So the intelligence
and sophistication

That they had to practice
in order to mummify

These heads is
quite astonishing.

And the ability to preserve a
head for over a hundred years

Within an amazon
rainforest condition

Is really quite incredible.

Mastrelli: Houlton's
trip to ecuador

Has given him step
-by-step instructions

On how to shrink a head.

Now, he must put this new-found
knowledge into practice.

His goal?

To create a shrunken head.

With smooth, relatively
hairless skin,

A pig's head provides the
closet analogy to a human head.

Houlton: So I'm just taking
dimensions across the face,

And this will act as
a means of comparison

Following head shrinking
to get a general idea

Of how much the head's reduced.

Mastrelli: Using the techniques
learned in ecuador,

Houlton begins the
gruesome process.

First, he removes the one thing

That won't shrink, the skull.

Houlton: What most people
don't realize is that the shuar

Had to remove the skull in order
to make shrinkage possible.

So that's the reason for
removing the skin from the head.

Mastrelli: Next, three wooden
pins seal the mouth shut.

Houlton: Amongst the shuar, it
was essential that the mouth

Was well and truly fastened
because that was believed

To be the central orifice
that the enemy's spirits

Would escape from.

Mastrelli: He uses thick
twine to sew the eyes shut.

Houlton: So the significance of
stitching the eyelids shut

Was that it was a
means of trapping

The enemy's spirits
within the head.

Mastrelli: With the
mouth and eyes sealed,

Houlton places the
head into boiling water

And leaves it for an hour.

Like human skin,

The pig's skin is made
up of collagen fibers,

And when these fibers are
exposed to temperatures

Above 145 degrees,
they contract,

Causing the skin to shrink.

To dry the skin and shrink
the head even further,

Houlton fills it with
hot pebbles and sand.

This absorbs any
remaining moisture.

Finally, he irons the skin.

Houlton: This is essentially
the final touches

Of the head shrinking process.

What I'm doing is
taking a hot flat pebble

And ironing the
outer face with it.

And what this is doing is
helping me mold the skin

And dry it out entirely
from the outside.

Mastrelli: By the
end of the process,

The pig's head is
significantly smaller.

Now that he's seen first hand

How the shrinking
process changes a head,

Houlton can embark on the
final part of his quest.

Houlton: The next stage is to
take all the information

That I've gotten so far and
actually go through the process

Of reconstructing the
face of a shrunken head

To revive the warrior
that once existed.

Mastrelli: Using cutting edge
computer modeling technology,

Houlton will attempt something

That's never been done before,

To reverse the head
shrinking process

And discover the man
behind the shrunken head.

On a mission to reveal the
secrets of shrunken heads,

Facial anatomy expert,
doctor tobias houlton,

Has discovered how
to shrink a head.

Now he's ready to
reverse the process,

And reveal how one victim
would have looked in life.

Houlton: It's not gonna right
the wrongs of the past,

But at least we're bringing
back the human being

From what is essentially looked
upon as a museum artifact,

Or a cultural specimen.

(dramatic music)

Mastrelli: Houlton has
traveled to liverpool's

John moores
university in the u.K.

Here, at the renowned face lab,

Facial reconstruction expert,

Professor caroline
wilkinson has given a face

To thousands of
john and jane does,

And helped solve
hundreds of murders

And archeological mysteries,

But this could be her
toughest case yet.

Wilkinson: Usually with the
facial reconstruction process,

What we're doing is we're
looking at the structure

Of the skull and the details
of the bones of the skull

To tell us about the
soft tissue features.

Mastrelli: But shrunken
heads have no skulls.

The skull is removed to
allow the head to shrink.

Wilkinson: In this case, since
we don't have a skull,

We're going to use
a template skull,

Which is a typical skull
from that part of the world

Of a similar age and gender
to our target individual.

Mastrelli: Using a template
skull is standard practice

In forensic and archeological
facial reconstructions

Where part of the skull is
missing or badly damaged.

It won't provide a
perfect likeness,

But it's the best solution
with the available evidence.

Wilkinson: We can use that
template to unfold and inflate

That shrunken head so that we
can build the facial features

And slowly build up the facial
appearance of the individual.

Mastrelli: Houlton's
analysis has established

Shrunken heads are, on average,

A fifth of their original size.

So to reverse the process,

The head must be scaled up to
five times its current size.

Wilkinson: You need a bit of
growth on the cranium,

Don't you?

Houlton: Yeah. Yeah.

Mastrelli: The nose and mouth
require careful attention.

The mouth has become distorted
by being pinned shut.

And without a skull
to hold it in place,

The nose has retracted
upwards as it shrunk.

To correct these exaggerations,

Houlton turns to
early photographs

Of shuar tribesmen
as a reference point.

Wilkinson: If we push the
mouth back in,

And then this is pretty
much there around the top.

Houlton: Sure.

Mastrelli: Houlton uses
tissue depth markers

Based on data from average
indigenous americans

To digitally reinstate
the tissue, fat and muscle

Destroyed during the
shrinking process,

And give the face
back its shape.

With the facial
structure in place,

Skin texture and typical
shuar body ornamentation

Can be added.

Bamboo tubes decorated
with red and yellow

Toucan feathers pierce the ears.

Wilkinson: We can use cutting
edge cgi techniques

For adding the
skin and the hair,

And the other realistic
details of the face.

Mastrelli: Finally, the program
renders the fine details

And the process is complete.

At least a hundred
years after his death,

Five thousand miles
from his birth place,

A shuar warrior stares
out from the screen.

Wilkinson: Is this
the face you expected?

Houlton: Well, it certainly
looks like a shuar warrior.

Wilkinson: It does.

Houlton: So yeah.

Wilkinson: It looks amazing.
Houlton: It's impressive, yeah.

Mastrelli: From
amazonian warrior

To victorian collector's
item and back.

Houlton: They're more than
just head shrinkers.

That's one very small
element of their identity.

You know, they're botanists,
they're horticulturalists.

They understand
their environments.

They know how to survive
in the amazon rainforest.

Mastrelli: The story of shrunken
heads and this man

Is more than a story of
macabre museum pieces

And victorian oddities.

It's the story of a society,

Of victims and the exploitation
of ancient rituals.

While little attention was paid

To the provenance of
these shrunken heads,

Today they have sparked
a greater ethical debate

On the display of human
remains in museums.

In case you're wondering,
in 1995 the smithsonian's

National museum of the
american indian led the way

By becoming the first to
repatriate its collection

To the shuar federation.