Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1891 — Head Flattening Among the Navajos. [ARTICLE]

Head Flattening Among the Navajos.

Upon every occasion where I was permitted to do so, careful examinations were made of the heads of these people, both living and dead, as well as the methods of strapping the infant Navajos in their cradles, and indeed all else that might tend to throw light upon the the subject. Of some two or three dozen children of all ages, from th.e infant upward, that I have thus examined, I have yet to find a case wherein the mother has not taken the special precaution to place a soft and ample pad in the cradle in such a manner as to fully protect the child’s head. Moreover, I have yet to see a case, except for a* few days or more in the youngest of babies, where the head is strapped at all. On the other hand, this part of the body is allowed all possible freedom.