Editing Scalping (section)

==Europe==
One of the earliest examples of scalping dates back to the [[Mesolithic]] period, found at a hunter-gatherer cemetery in [[Sweden]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ahlström |first1=Torbjörn |title=An early example of scalping from the Mesolithic cemetery Skateholm, Sweden |journal=Archäologie und Geschichte im Ostseeraum |date=2008 |volume=3 |pages=59–66 |url=https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/an-early-example-of-scalping-from-the-mesolithic-cemetery-skateho}}</ref> Several human remains from the stone-age [[Ertebølle culture]] in [[Denmark]] show evidence of scalping.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rying |first1=Bent |title=Denmark: Introduction, Prehistory |date=1981 |publisher=Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs |page=30 |edition=1}}</ref> A man found in a grave in the [[Alvastra pile-dwelling]] in Sweden had been scalped approximately 5,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larsson |first1=ÅM |title=Breaking and Making Bodies in Pots |date=2009 |publisher=Uppsala Universitet |location=Uppsala, Sweden |page=277}}</ref>

[[Georg Friederici]] noted that “[[Herodotus]] provided the only clear and satisfactory portrayal of a scalping people in the old world” in his description of the [[Scythians]], a nomadic people then located to the north and west of the Black Sea.<ref>{{cite news|author1=((Griffin, Anastasia M. (editor))) |title=Critical Introduction|date=2008| author2=Frederici, Georg |work=Scalping and Similar Warfare Customs in America |isbn=9780549562092|page=180}}</ref> Herodotus related that Scythian warriors would behead the enemies they defeated in battle and present the heads to their king to claim their share of the plunder. Then, the warrior would skin the head “by making a circular cut round the ears and shaking out the skull; he then scrapes the flesh off the skin with the rib of an ox, and when it is clean works it with his fingers until it is supple, and fit to be used as a sort of handkerchief. He hangs these handkerchiefs on the bridle of his horse, and is very proud of them. The best man is the man who has the greatest number.”<ref>{{cite book|author1=Herodotus|title= The Histories|url=https://archive.org/details/histories00hero|url-access=registration|author2= ((De Selincourt, Aubrey (translator)))|publisher= Penguin Books|location= London|date= 2003|pages= [https://archive.org/details/histories00hero/page/260 260–261]|isbn= 9780140449082}}</ref>

[[Ammianus Marcellinus]] noted the taking of scalps by the [[Alans|Alani]] in terms quite similar to those used by Herodotus.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Marcellinus, Ammianus |title= Roman History, Book XXXI, II|location= London|publisher= Bohn|date= 1862|page= 22|author2=Yonge, C.D. }}</ref> The Abbé [[Emmanuel H. D. Domenech]] referred to the ''decalvare'' of the [[Germanic peoples|ancient Germans]] and the ''capillos et cutem detrahere'' of the code of the [[Visigoths]] as examples of scalping in early [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Domenech, Abbe Emmanuel |title= Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts of North America, Vol. 2|location= London|publisher= Longman Green|date= 1860|page= 358}}</ref> though some more recent interpretations of these terms relate them to shaving off the hair of the head as a legal punishment rather than scalping.<ref>{{cite book|author=Crouch, Jace |title=The Judicial Punishment of Delcavatio in Visigothic Spain: A Proposed Solution based on Isidore of Seville and the Lex Visigothorum|pages=  1–5}} and Abstract.</ref>

In England in 1036,  [[Godwin, Earl of Wessex|Earl Godwin]], father of [[Harold Godwinson]], was reportedly responsible for scalping his enemies, among whom was [[Alfred Aetheling]]. According to the ancient [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]], 'some of them were blinded, some maimed, some scalped. No more horrible deed was done in this country since the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]] came and made peace here'.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://classesv2.yale.edu/access/content/user/haw6/Vikings/AS%20Chronicle%20Abingdon%20MS.html |title=V2*Vault Shutdown &#124; Canvas @ Yale |access-date=2017-08-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820140611/https://classesv2.yale.edu/access/content/user/haw6/Vikings/AS%20Chronicle%20Abingdon%20MS.html |archive-date=2017-08-20 }}</ref>

In 1845, mercenary John Duncan observed what he estimated to be 700 scalps taken in warfare and displayed as trophies by a contingent of female soldiers—[[Dahomey Amazons]]—employed by the King of Dahomey (present-day [[Republic of Benin]]). Duncan noted that these would have been taken and kept over a long period of time and would not have come from a single battle. Although Duncan travelled widely in Dahomey, and described customs such as the taking of heads and the retention of skulls as trophies, nowhere else does he mention scalping.<ref>{{cite book|title=Travels in Western Africa in 1845 & 1846, Comprising a Journey from Whydah, through the Kingdom of Dahomey, to Adofoodia, in the Interior, Vol. I|author=Duncan, John |location= London|publisher= Richard Bentley|date= 1847|pages= 233–234}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Travels in Western Africa in 1845 & 1846, Comprising a Journey from Whydah, through the Kingdom of Dahomey, to Adofoodia, in the Interior, Vol. II|author=Duncan, John |location= London|publisher= Richard Bentley|date= 1847|pages= 274–275}}</ref>

Occasional instances of scalping of dead Axis troops by Allied military personnel are known from [[World War II]].  While many of these instances took place in the Pacific Theater, along with more extreme forms of trophy-hunting (see [[American mutilation of Japanese war dead#Extent of practice|American mutilation of Japanese war dead]]), occasional instances are reported in the European Theater as well.  One particularly widely reported, although disputed, case involves that of German general Friedrich Kussin, the commandant of the town of Arnhem who was ambushed and killed by British paratroopers in the early stages of [[Operation Market Garden]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.battledetective.com/Kussin_Junction.html|title = Battledetective Case Files}}</ref>