Public History Commons^™

Chapman's Berlin Wall As A Display Of Tribal Victory, Cameron Steiner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

From early contact between hunter-gatherer tribes, through the Middle Ages and to even modern times, societies in conflict would frequently engage in the intimidation tactic of severing the heads of their rivals and placing them upon spikes or poles. More than a means to warn away those who came upon it, these displays would exhibit the power and superiority of one tribe over the other. While the most explicit forms of this custom are no longer in widespread use, their gestures of dominance continue to be practiced in objects and figures that are given symbolic significance, typically representing the victory …