The House of Skulls

This is a study of the House of Skulls, one of the lost cultures of the Niger Delta. The House of Skulls was a European label for a house built by some Niger Delta communities with the skulls of their enemies killed in war. The case is used to argue that barbarism is not endemic to African Culture, but rather part of the primitive instinct of man and the House of Skulls, as evidence of human sacrifice, and headhunting in the Niger Delta and its hinterland in pre-colonial times was not worse than some of the practices, both African and European, which have been documented. In doing so the study provides fresh insights into the history of one of the lost cultures of the Niger Delta; a culture much modified in contemporary times.