SCALPING

removal of all or part of the scalp, with hair attached, from an enemy's head. Although best known as a practice of North American Indian warfare, scalping was not exclusive to the Indians. The Greek historian Herodotus attributed the practice to the Scythians, and some western Siberian peoples and possibly the ancient Persians may also have scalped enemies. Scalping was not common to all American Indian tribes, and some authors question its presence in North America before the arrival of whites. The custom was probably confined originally to a limited area in what is now the eastern United States and around the lower St. Lawrence, as well as an area in the Gran Chaco country of South America. The practice spread over much of central and western North America as a result of bounties offered by the French, English, Dutch, and Spanish colonial authorities for the scalps of enemy Indians. Many American frontiersmen and soldiers adopted the custom. Scalping varied in importance. For Southeastern Indians it was necessary to take scalps to become a warrior and to placate the spirits of the dead. Most Northeastern Indians valued captives more than scalps. Among Plains Indians scalps were taken for war honours, though such practices as touching a live enemy in battle accrued more honour to a warrior. Scalps were usually taken from dead enemies, although some Plains Indians preferred a live victim. The operation was not necessarily fatal, and some victims were released alive. The scalp was sometimes offered as a ritual sacrifice or preserved and carried by women in a triumphal scalp dance, later to be retained as a pendant by the warrior, used as tribal medicine, or discarded.