Scalping. Scalping is the act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp, with hair attached, from the head, and generally occurred in warfare with the scalp being a trophy. Scalp-taking is considered part of the broader cultural practice of the taking and display of human body parts as trophies, and may have developed as an alternative to the taking of human heads, for scalps were easier to take, transport, and preserve for subsequent display. Scalping independently developed in various cultures in both the Old and New Worlds. One of the earliest examples of scalping dates back to the mesolithic period, found at a hunter-gatherer cemetery in Sweden. Several human remains from the stone-age Ertebølle culture in Denmark show evidence of scalping. A man found in a grave in the Alvastra pile-dwelling in Sweden had been scalped approximately 5,000 years ago. Georg Frederici 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. 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. Ammianus Marcellinus noted the taking of scalps by the Alani in terms quite similar to those used by Herodotus. The Abbé Emmanuel H. D. Domenech referred to the decalvare of the ancient Germans and the capillos et cutem detrahere of the code of the Visigoths as examples of scalping in early medieval Europe, 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. In England in 1036, Earl Godwin, father of Harold Godwinson, was reportedly responsible for scalping his enemies, among whom was Alfred Aetheling. According to the ancient Abingdon manuscript, some of them were blinded, some maimed, some scalped. No more horrible deed was done in this country since the Danes came and made peace here. 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. 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. 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, 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. There is physical evidence that scalping was practiced during the Longshan and Erlitou periods in China's central plain. A skull from an Iron Age cemetery in South Siberia shows evidence of scalping. It lends physical evidence to the practice of scalp taking by the Scythians living there. Some evidence is also found in the Indian Subcontinent. Bhai Taru Singh was a prominent Sikh martyr known for sacrificing his life, in the name of protecting Sikh values, by having had his head scalped rather than cutting his hair and converting to Islam. Specific scalping techniques varied somewhat from place to place, depending on the cultural patterns of the scalper regarding the desired shape, size, and intended use of the severed scalp, and on how the victims wore their hair, but the general process of scalping was quite uniform.