NARRATOR: In the
mid-19th century,
the Amazon's rubber
trees and mineral
riches brought traders, miners,
and missionaries to the region.
Settlements sprung up in
or near Shuar territory.
The fake head suggests some
of these colonial settlers
wanted a piece of the lucrative
trade in shrunken heads,
making a fast buck
selling fake heads
to eager traders and explorers.
 A lot of collectors were
being duped and paying
a lot of money for essentially
what was a fake shrunken
head at this time.
And they were being
sold incredible stories
that were attached these
objects to go along with them.
NARRATOR: Another head in
the museum's collection
came with exactly this
kind of tall tale.
Could this be another fake head?
 The head was acquired
by the museum in 1950.
The information
that they gave us
was that it was a male shaman
who was trying to cure a child
of one of his tribesmen.
But since he couldn't do
it, the father of the child
killed the shaman
and took his head.
That's what we thought
during a very long time.
NARRATOR: In 2016, the museum
analyzed the head's DNA.
The analysis revealed this
is not made of animal skin.
It's a real human head.
But something was wrong.
 The DNA analysis
said that this
is a female head, not a male.
NARRATOR: It's a
shocking revelation.
Genuine ceremonial
shrunken heads
are always male
because the Shuar
shrank heads to stop the
soul of a slain warrior
from taking revenge.
And in Shuar society,
women were never warriors.
So the only reason to
shrink a woman's head
would be to satisfy
the Victorian demand
for morbid curios.
She wasn't a victim
of tribal conflict
but of cold-blooded murder.
 The killing started
to increase in order
to supply for the demand.
So it was most probably
an innocent female.
NARRATOR: This woman's
death had nothing
to do with ceremony and
everything to do with money.
This is a commercial
shrunken head.
