Description:
A medical tomodensitometric study (TDM) was performed on a dry skull from the necropolis of Ancón in Peru. The skull, housed at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, displays an anteroposterior, brachycephalic, oblique, asymmetric, and bilobar deformation. TDM permitted 3-D reconstructions of the skull, endocranium, and vault thickness. The external surface displayed deformation and asymmetry in the bone structures and the endocranium demonstrated deformation and asymmetry in the brain lobes and superficial structures. The TDM demonstration of abnormal variations and pronounced asymmetry in the thickness of the vault strongly suggested that the deformation was ante mortem. The 3-D TDM reconstructions also helped to reconstruct the device used to deform the head.