Trophy Taking in the Central and Lower Mississippi Valley

Abstract

Trophy taking is the act of removing human body parts from a living or recently deceased victim or foe, when the body part functions as a souvenir that marks the act of conquering or controlling another human being or human group. Trophy taking can be used as an act of revenge between certain factions of people, or to prove to a superior that a killing has been carried out. But the practice can also be done as a component of war, whether ritualized or as an impulse, done in the passion of the moment. Trophy taking has been done for thousands of years, and is still practiced in today’s world in some circumstances.