Three successive steps of shrunken head authenticity procedure may be separated:
- morphological analysis and search for any of the 14 criteria (may be sufficient in a majority of cases);
- hair microscopic examination (optional);
- skin DNA analysis (optional).
List of all 14 macroscopic criteria is:
1 Dark or black or brown skin color due to impregnation with charcoal dust during shrinking
2 Wooden pegs or vegetal fibers retained in the lips (if absent or removed post-production, sets of vertically aligned corresponding holes are present just behind both the upper and lower lips)
3 Loop of wooden vine or fiber sewn into the neck (if absent or removed post-production, traces of suturing and/or sawing are present)
4 Important thickness and leathery texture of the edge of the neck opening
5 Oval shape of the neck in cross-section and/or lateral compression of the head
6 From behind, neck and head tissues sewn together with fiber stitches
7 Conserved anatomical details of the ear (with possibility of a earlobe hole, filled or not by a wooden tube or peg)
8 Both eyes tightly closed (with possibility of sewing shut from the inside), skin in the surrounding cheek area being smooth with no facial down present
9 Profusion of hairs in the nostrils
10 Long dark hairs (or hairs which have been cut years after the shrinking process)
11 Long suspension cord overhanging from the top of the head (or related hole)
12 No facial painting or artistic/ethnic scar
13 No remaining skull fragment
14 Complete filling of internal head cavities by sand and/or charcoals (may be seen or highlighted at CT-scan examination)