An intentionally modified head is a visually distinctive sign of group identity. In the Migration Period of Europe (4th– 7th century AD) the practice of intentional cranial modification was common among several nomadic groups, but was strongly associated with the Huns from the Carpathian Basin in Hungary, where modified crania are abundant in archaeological sites. The frequency of modified crania increased substantially in the Mtskheta region of Georgia in this time period, but there are no records that Huns settled here. We compare the Migration Period modified skulls from Georgia with those from Hungary to test the hypothesis that the Huns were responsible for cranial modification in Georgia. We use extended eigenshape analysis to quantify cranial outlines, enabling a discriminant analysis to assess group separation and identify morphological differences. Twenty-one intentionally modified skulls from Georgia are compared with sixteen from Hungary, using nineteen unmodified crania from a modern population as a comparative baseline. Results indicate that modified crania can be differentiated from modern unmodified crania with 100% accuracy. The Hungarian and Georgian crania show some overlap in shape, but can be classified with 81% accuracy. Shape gradations along the main eigenvectors indicate that the Hungarian crania show little variation in cranial shape, in accordance with a two-bandage binding technique, whereas the Georgian crania had a wider range of variation, fitting with a diversity of binding styles. As modification style is a strong signifier of social identity, our results indicate weak Hunnic influence on cranial modification in Georgia and are equivocal about the presence of Huns in Georgia. We suggest instead that other nomadic groups such as Alans and Sarmatians living in this region were responsible for modified crania in Georgia.

The Endo Stitch technique has been in use in Geelong since 1994 as the method of performing transvaginal sacrospinous colpopexy (TSC). This article looks at the outcome of 165 of these procedures as assessed by a questionnaire. As the operation is technically easy, has a low complication rate and a high level of patient satisfaction we suggest that the Endo Stitch technique may be the method of choice for TSC.

Hungarian crania were modified with two bindings with limited shape variation, whereas the Georgian crania had greater variation in shape being also modified with antero-posterior bindings. The findings from this study alongside contemporary historical sources help to understand the role of intentional cranial modification as a mark of social identity among nomads in the Migration Period of Europe.

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