Goat skull with ikat cloth, IFUGAO, Philippines, ca 1970

The ikat cloth skulls, including goat skulls and karbau (water buffalo) skulls, are striking traditional objects found in the culture of the Ifugao, an indigenous group from the Cordillera region of Luzon Island in the Philippines. These skulls are often hung on or around tribal homes and rice terraces, and have deep cultural, spiritual and symbolic meanings.

📜Cultural and Spiritual Meaning

• Ancestor worship & protection
• The skulls symbolize the connection with ancestors and natural forces.
• They were believed to offer protection against evil spirits or bad luck.
• They functioned as spiritual guardians of the house or yard.

Status and wealth

•  A karbau (water buffalo) is a precious animal. Possessing it or offering it during rituals (such as funerals, weddings or harvest festivals) symbolizes status and wealth.
• Hanging a skull, especially a karbau, showed the prosperity of a family.

Sacrificial practices (rituals)

• During important rituals, animals were sacrificed to the gods and ancestors.
• The skull was kept, sometimes wrapped in an ikat cloth (a traditional woven cloth) and hung as a sign of honor or spiritual power.

🐐 Goat skulls & karbau skulls

Goat Skulls:

• Less prestigious than buffalo, but used in smaller rituals or as an addition to larger sacrifices.
• Often also served as decorative objects of protection against evil influences.

Karbau Skulls:

• Very important in Ifugao culture.
• Were hung on the outside walls of traditional houses (such as the "fale") or on special altars at rice terraces.
• Sometimes several skulls were hung next to each other to show the spiritual power of a family.

🧵 Ikat cloth

• The ikat is a textile technique in which threads are pre-dyed according to a pattern before weaving.
• The use of ikat cloth on skulls indicates ritual purity, spiritual power and symbolic protection.

Sometimes the cloth was used to mark the sacred nature of the object.

📸 Visual and Anthropological Heritage

In museums and documentaries about the Ifugao (such as that of the National Museum of the Philippines or ethnographic studies from Europe) one can often find photographs of skulls on wooden Ifugao houses, sometimes with paintings or incised patterns. The skulls themselves may be decorated or left white, and the cloth often colorful with geometric patterns.

I obtained this goat skull myself in situ and it comes from a tribal house near Banaue. The house was demolished and replaced by a stone house. The age of the object is evident from the fact that it does not smell of smoke. There is an ikat cloth around the skull as a symbol of protection. It may have already been replaced. Good condition of the whole!

Length: 26 cm
Height: approx. 15 cm
Weight: 484 grams
Origin: Ifugao, Luzon, Philippines
Dating: ca 1970

📚 Sources & follow-up research

• National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Philippines)
• Ethnographic museums (such as the Tropenmuseum in the Netherlands)
• Publications by anthropologists such as Otley Beyer, who did a lot of research on the Ifugao
• Books on Cordillera rituals and textile art, such as "The Art of the Cordillera" or "Philippine Ancestral Houses"