The Enigma of Cranial Deformation: Elongated Skulls of the Ancients

by David Hatcher Childress, Brien Foerster

Popular Lost Cities author Childress tackles the enigma of worldwide cranial deformation along with Canadian-Peruvian anthropologist Foerster. In a book filled with over a hundred astonishing photos and a color photo section, Childress and Foerster take us to Peru, Bolivia, Egypt, Malta, China, Mexico and other places in search of strange elongated skulls and other cranial deformation. The puzzle of why diverse ancient people-even on remote Pacific Islands-would use head-binding to create elongated heads is mystifying. Where did they even get this idea? Did some people naturally look this way-with long narrow heads? Were they some sort of elite race that roamed the entire planet? Why do anthropologists rarely talk about cranial deformation and know so little about it? As incredible as it seems, Childress and Foerster discover that cranial deformation was practiced on nearly every continent by special groups who believed they were imitating their highly advanced ancestors. This is a mind-blowing trip into the strange past of humans on planet earth.

348 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

David Hatcher Childress (born 1957) is an American author and publisher of books on topics in alternative history and historical revisionism. His works often cover such subjects as pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, the Knights Templar, lost cities and vimana aircraft. Despite his public involvement in the general field of study, Childress claims to have no academic credentials as a professional archaeologist.

Born in France, and raised in Colorado, Childress began his world travels at age nineteen in pursuit of his archaeological interests. In 1983 Childress relocated to Stelle, Illinois, a community founded by New Age writer Richard Kieninger, after Childress was given a book authored by Kieninger while touring Africa. Childress chronicled his explorations in his Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries series of books, whose core concepts were influenced by the ideas of Kieninger.

While residing in Stelle, Childress began self publishing his own works and later other authors, which focus on presenting fringe scientific theories regarding ancient civilizations and little-known technologies, as well as establishing a travel business in partnership with Kieninger. In 1991, in the nearby town of Kempton, Illinois, Childress, along with historian and linguist Carl W. Hart, founded the World Explorers Club, a group that often travels to the places he writes about, and an affiliated magazine, World Explorer.

David Hatcher Childress has appeared on several television programs on NBC ("The Mysterious Origins of Man"), Fox Network (Sightings and Encounters), Discovery Channel, A&E, The History Channel, as a commentator on subjects such as the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and UFOs.

Childress has been involved in two lawsuits regarding his publishing activities, one of which failed due to the expiry of a statute of limitations and the other, involving his company's publication of a master's thesis without permission, which was settled out of court.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ha...

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remain entirely unconvinced in the ancient aliens hypothesis gently suggested in the final chapter here. Nonetheless I find inexplicable archaeological discoveries to be fascinating. What is going on here? Numerous civilizations across the globe practised cranial elongation - they would bind the growing child's head for a few years to create something of a conehead appearance when fully grown. Why? You may be able to write off one civilization as a novel cultural trait, but this has been witnessed across oceans that were thought to not be traversable at that age and cultures that were not in communication.

I am persuaded that the pre-flood antediluvian world was a weird one. Is this a relic of a time we don't know much about? Co-author Brian Foerster has gone on the record saying that these skulls, catalogued and stored, are going missing from museums around the world. What the hell is going on here?

There's not much in the way of answers in this book. Good summary of the archaeological finds and then some wild speculation. Plenty of cool pics.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book author David Childress leads you into the strange world of the long heads. We learn about elongated skulls of the ancient, the mystery of the strange coneheads and the practice of trepanning. The photos shown inside are fascinating. I also had to think about the phrenology craze in Europe of the 19th century. Then he talks about the Olmecs and delivers speculations why they might have deformed their skulls. Next is cranial deformation in South America, Egyptian, African and European cranial deformation. Are there skulls from a different race? Headbinding, space aliens and even Indiana Jones is mentioned here. Don't take everything here as scientifically proven. But the author comes up with lots of fascinating stuff, fluent writing and compelling pictures. If you ever wondered about cranial deformation this is your book. Highly entertaining and recommended!

[Aleksandar Jovcic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has good information, thorough research and helpful images.
But overall, the book is short, messy and lazily written.

There are several paragraphs, claims and images repeated throughout the book, and so many grammatical errors that it is obvious the writer has not taken the time to read through it carefully or have it checked by multiple people before publishing the book. It is also very short, only 200 pages long and atleast 30 pages are taken up by images. It seems like the writer wants to make the book as long as possible with spilling as little information as he can get away with, so that he can write multiple more books on the same subject and make more money.

So now I have to buy another short and messy book on the elongated skulls to see the DNA results which he had done on the skulls. When he could easily merge both books into one good length book.

[Dan Zarfati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the book is short, it does provide amazing information, it establishes a strong link between us and a possible inbreeding with other species who live probably in another part of this solar system. Childress and Forster examine civilizations apart with some very strange common ground, I strongly advise on the purchase if you are into the Anunnaki research and a truth seeker.

[Tina Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a subject that has greatly interested me for along time. This only whets the appetite for more but this study is not ready to be done yet. Until the academic community accepts truths and artifacts that are in their faces, this will continue to be a curiosity.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drenched in amazing evidence and some folklore.

[Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think aliens are involved - sorry

[Michael Millar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent scholarly work

A great deal to consider here and what to make of it all? The mystery continues to intrigue us all.

[Cate · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative book regarding the practice of cranial deformation. It avoids getting into all the woo-woo speculations that have become connected with the subject matter. The book is well researched and includes several references along with numerous photographs of specimen skulls,art and locations pertinent to the subject matter.

[Arminion · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book that I've read from Childress and once again, I felt like I was reading a student grad paper. This isn't bad per se, as it makes the reading more easier, but it also felt amateurish and clunky. The book is also very short with a lot of photos. In the end, I didn't really found out anything new by reading this.

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think aliens are involved - sorry - you need a better case. But I think that the findings of this practice in South America and Africa/Egypt show that our ancestors got around a lot more than we were taught in school.

[Adrienne Amborski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting...a through research of an anomaly of human culture. Amazing to what lengths people will go to fit to a cultural norm. Does address the alien connection...

[Brent L · Rating 1 out of 5]

Total garbage. Uses wikipedia (!) for multiple sources, not to mention many other books written by Childress.