At many Middle Neolithic sites in south-central Scandinavia associated with the huntergatherer complex known as the Pitted Ware culture, the skulls of humans and animals seemto have been treated differently from other skeletal elements. This is evident, for example, ininhumation graves lacking crania or entire skulls as well as numerous finds of cranial andmandibular fragments scattered in cultural layers or deposited in hearths and pits. Despiteparallels in overall treatment and find contexts, the selective handling of human skulls hasgenerally been regarded as a mortuary practice and thus qualitatively different from thehandling of animal skulls. Focusing primarily on the head bones themselves and relatingtheir treatment to the wider use of skeletal remains allows us to consider a more complexsystem of retrieving, modifying, curating and depositing crania and mandibles. Drawingon the overlapping general treatment of human and animal remains, it is suggested thathead bones from both humans and animals were efficacious objects that could be used indepositional acts.