Shrunken Head Displayed in Georgia Was Returned to Ecuador Researchers at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., authenticated the head, which was brought to the United States by a professor decades ago, and turned it over to Ecuadorean officials in 2019. Bought in Ecuador in the 1940s by a future biology professor, the shrunken head, called a tsantsa, had been alternately displayed and stored at Mercer University for decades.Credit... Adam Kiefer/Mercer University No bigger than a fist, the shrunken head had nonetheless become a major headache. The head, a mummified Amazonian war trophy called a tsantsa, had been in the possession of Mercer University in Macon, Ga., for decades. Over that time, it was puzzled over by professors, used as a prop in a John Huston comedy and displayed in a university museum. And in 2019, it was returned to Ecuadorean officials — but only after it was authenticated with a 33-item checklist, according to an article published this week by Mercer researchers.