King Tut’s Oddly Shaped Skull: An Ancient Egyptian Discovery

sarcophagus
Via flickr
Adé Hennis
July 4, 2024

Beauty, power, and prestige are some of the qualities associated with elongated skulls. The Mangetu tribe of northeast Congo, uses a wrapping technique to make infants’ skulls longer, a completely safe practice that dates back to ancient Egypt.

King Tut and other mummies in Egypt were found to have had cone-shaped heads, which  research has attributed to the practice of lipombo, or skull stretching.

After Belgian colonizers invaded Mangbetu in the 1950s, they outlawed lipombo. By extension, they also banned the hats and hairstyles that complemented the elongated skulls. The ban on lipombo was a blow to the Mangbetu culture.

From King Tut to the Mangbetu, traditions like lipombo hold the key to unlocking our history.

Our people have celebrated and enhanced Black beauty in countless fascinating ways. By honoring and preserving traditions like lipombo we give them the respect they deserve and keep our culture eternally vibrant.

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