Once again we’re pressed for time as the screenplay calls, so today’s NtHWS Extra will be yet another visual quickie. The illustration at right, of a Konyak Naga chest tattoo circa 1923, comes courtesy of the great J.H. Hutton, arguably the great dean of Naga anthropology. Hutton did several tours up in the Indo-Burmese hills, and always brought along his sketchbook to record tribal ways. It is largely thanks to him that we learned about the Nagas’ Tibeto-Burman language(s), as well as their modes of agriculture, cuisine, metallurgy, and, of course, headhunting.
Learn more about Hutton’s career via the Pitt Rivers Museum, the recipient of much of the man’s Naga artifacts. And check out another Konyak Naga tatto, in a photograph snapped by the great Verrier Elwin.
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