Long before Europe colonizers arrived in New Zealand, the native Māori people were preserving the severed heads of the fallen. Known as mokomokai, the heads were chopped off, boiled, smoked, dried in the Sun, and dipped in shark oil before being displayed or paraded around like trophies.
But when the British moved in during the 1840s, they soon pillaged the mokomokai for themselves. Major General Horatio Gordon Robley (featured in this creepy old picture with his collection), who served in the British Army during the New Zealand Land Wars in the 1860s, was particularly fascinated by the Maori and stole at least 35 heads for himself.
