I'm specifically referring to skull carvings. I'm aware of the use of human remains to adorn crypts or places like Sedlec Ossuary. It's apparent that this practice may have occurred in Tibet, but for some reason I've heard the practice also took place in early Iron age, Bronze age, or earlier Europe. What is the truth value of this, is it just neo-celtic fetishism? Is there any evidence that carving skulls took place in North or Western Europe? If so, do you know where I might be able to read more about it?
Celtic headhunting and ceremonial display is something I've written briefly about before, though for convenience I shall repost the most relevant passage:
Postumius died fighting with all his strength trying to avoid capture. The spoils stripped from his corpse and the severed head of the commander were taken by the Boii to their holiest temple. Then, after they removed the flesh from the head, they adorned the skull with gold, according to their custom. They used it as a sacred vessel to give libations on holy days and their priests and the custodians of their temple used it as a goblet.^1
Whether this is in line with your conception of skull carving is another question.
^(1 • John Koch and John Carey. The Celtic Heroic Age. Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales. s.v. "Livy". Aberystwyth, Wales: Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, 2009. p. 36-37 ^¶23.24)