Limestone jackal-headed canopic jar, used to house removed stomach, liver, lungs and intestines, each organ assigned to a different jar, from a mummified Egyptian body. This jar represents Duamutef, one of the four sons of Horus, and is the guardian of the stomach

Plaster cast, man of the Arawa tribe showing Maori tattooing

Limestone human headed canopic jar

A Kandyan shaman in full costume. Process print.

A Japanese doctor taking the pulse of a patient. Halftone after a photograph by Messrs. Kajima & Suwo.

A Shuar shrunken head (tsantsa) from Ecuador with a stitched mouth and feather headdress.

Burial of the dead in the graveyard of a parish church. Etching by James Taylor.

Peruvian mummified male, c.1200-1400

Human skull inscribed with prayers for the deceased. Collected by Robert Baden Powell's Asante (Ghana) expedition 1895

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Natural symbols : explorations in cosmology / Mary Douglas.

Shaman's mask with human features and a removable bird's beak. Haida people, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada

Human skull with painted features and cowrie shell eyes. The hair is real. Said to have been used in rituals associated with ancestor worship. Papua New Guinea

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Ritual

Images

Works

Natural symbols : explorations in cosmology / Mary Douglas.

Shaman's mask with human features and a removable bird's beak. Haida people, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada

Human skull inscribed with prayers for the deceased. Collected by Robert Baden Powell's Asante (Ghana) expedition 1895

Human skull with painted features and cowrie shell eyes. The hair is real. Said to have been used in rituals associated with ancestor worship. Papua New Guinea

Human skull inscribed with prayers for the deceased. Collected by Robert Baden Powell's Asante (Ghana) expedition 1895

Today’s opening times

Wellcome uses cookies.

Ritual

Images

Works

Natural symbols : explorations in cosmology / Mary Douglas.

Shaman's mask with human features and a removable bird's beak. Haida people, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada

Human skull inscribed with prayers for the deceased. Collected by Robert Baden Powell's Asante (Ghana) expedition 1895

Human skull with painted features and cowrie shell eyes. The hair is real. Said to have been used in rituals associated with ancestor worship. Papua New Guinea

Human skull inscribed with prayers for the deceased. Collected by Robert Baden Powell's Asante (Ghana) expedition 1895

Wellcome Collection

Today’s opening times