GERHARD SISTERS'
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The 1904 Olympics
Bontac Head Hunter #3 (Igorot)
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Photograph by the Gerhard Sisters, 1904. Gerhard Sisters "Aborginal Portraits". Missouri Historical Society Photographs and Prints Collections. NS 28107. Scan © 2003, Missouri Historical Society.
DESCRIPTION
The Igorots were mountain people from the Island of Luzon in the Philippines. They lived in dwellings on the Fairgrounds that they built themselves from materials imported from the islands. Of the three tribes classified as Igorots, the Bontoc was considered by the organizers of the Philippine Reservation to be the most “primitive” and warlike due in part to the tribe’s head hunting rituals. The Bontoc were described as having “copper-colored skin, high cheek bones, flat noses, thick lips, and long, straight, black hair.” Presumably they tattooed their chests for every head they took. The men wore little rimless fezzes in which they stored coins and pipes. Their daily activities consisted of hourly demonstrations of music, dance, weavings, and realistic pantomimes in the use of shields and spears.
