Skull drinking cup

[Livio Asta]

I would like to make a drinking cup with a (fake!) skull, like the one made by italian Boii with the severed head of Postumius after the battle of Selva Litana.
I know that it may look a bit "Halloween", but i'd like it in itself, and also to fight a kind of "hippie" and "politically correct" image of Celts that is common in italian reenactment (as an excessive reaction to opposite traditional opinions like "they were only barbarians", i guess).

So, in the market section of this forum i found a good and cheap reproduction of a human skull.

My questions are:

1) Any cup of that kind has ever been found (celtic, germanic or other)?

2) In your opinion, i have to fill the foramen and cut the calvarium, or i have to use the naturally cup shape of calvarium putting the skull upside down and "opening" it by cutting the part under the eyes cavity?

Thanx.

[Jeff Scharp]

Cool project! I thought a Roman writer had written of such a thing, but I can't remember who it was. I haven't seen anything that has been dug up to support it, but I think it's pretty cool. Please post pics when you have something.

[J.R. Griffin]

What very little evidence there is for this type of thing seems to be an exaggeration by "civilized" writers speaking of the barbaric peoples. Same stories are told about the Vikings and Migration Era Germanic people.

This is not to say it NEVER happened, but I think that is was more of artistic license to demonize the enemy more than an actual fact. If you want a historically proven way to show the Celts weren't Hippies, just get some quality heads and nail them to you tent pole through the forehead.....having no eyes and bits of skin, blood and hair still clinging to it will do the trick nicely, and you have the historical writing sources AND archaeological evidence to back up the cult of the head.

[Tim Edwards]

I'd agree with J.R.

I think drinking from a plastic skull will only cheapen your impression, rather than making an historical statement.

I'd also avoid using synthetic materials wherever possible, not that I'm advocating you going out and looking for a real skull...!

[Livio Asta]

My group stopped both ideas (severed heads and drinking cup) exactly for this reason: they have to be made of plastic. I only partially agree with the reason, but i accepted democratic decision (waiting for oligarchy...).

Tim, i had no intention to drink in a skull instead of normal vessel; i just wanted to put the cup in front of a god statue we have in the camp, or something like that: from the text it is clear that it was a ritual cup, not a daily one.

Looking for inspiration i found a possible etnographic parallel who gives a chance to historicity of skull cups:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kap%C4%81la