In 10 or perhaps 15 years, most if not all of these former Konyak headhunters and their wives will be dead. Their faded, tattooed adorned faces will be buried beneath Christian headstones in hilltop villages in the remote Mon district of Nagaland in Northeast India. With their demise, the living memories of their unique cultural existence will disappear for eternity. 

     These elderly men and women have lived through a time when tribal warfare still resolved certain territorial conflicts. Their backs, torsos and facial tattoos bear witness to mortal combat and the customary trophy headhunting. They were born into and inherited a strong tribal identity, which extended to the physical boundaries of their lands. They will die having intermittent access to limited aspects of modernity, and having partially embraced a Baptist based Christianity.

Aidan McGLOIN