... entagled amidst climbing vines.

The Kichwa are credited with producing this but it bears the hallmarks of their neighbors in the next valley over – the fearsome Shuar, those unsurpassed hunters & woodsmen brandishing blow-guns, some 12 feet in length, equipped with poison-arrowhead missiles made of sugar cane & curare - who practice tsantsa, turning skulls into war trophies / medals of honors. As told by William Jamieson, more than mere blood lust or a bizarre kind of taxidermy, a tsantsa is a very ritualized & sacred way to avenge clan killings. It destroys the victim’s soul, paralyzes the spirit of the enemy, & honors the murdered relative(s) whose death originally provoked the counter-attack; essentially a form ancestor worship. Such desire for retaliation expresses a sense of justice that seems almost universal (for instance, half-way arund the world in PNG).

The simple step-by-step manual:
1. Boil the head, analogous to both the fermentation & roasting process in cacáo; then dip the skin into a vegetable extract which dyes it a dark color & probably has some preservative action;
2. Fill skull-cavity with hot sand or pebbles to sear it, after which the head is constantly turned & moved, so that drying porceeds uniformly. When the sand cools, hot sand takes its place; this process may last several days to completely "cure" the head.

An unbelievable degree of shrinking takes place, but regulated so that features remain intact.

Incidents of tsantsa accelerated in the early 20th century, losing much of its traditional aim when shrunken heads became valuable, collectible souvenirs in the tourist trade bartered for cash or, more likely, firearms... further fueling warfare & inter-tribal feuds. It has grown so lucrative nowadays that a counterfeit industry has sprung up.

Telling a fake from the real when it comes to heads requires keen observation, just as discerning between chocolate & a simulacrum (read Quality section below) calls for ignoring headlines buzzing with 'sustainable, Free-Trade, organic, indigenous, & award-winning'.