Coastal Developmental Stage Art Objects and Ornaments.
Top, left to right: spindle-shaped object (5,500-3,500 years old); carved human figure, bone, Marpole site (2,500-1,500 years old); antler heron or crane effigy, Marpole site (2,500-1,500 years old); two dentalium shell beads (last 3,500 years); whale-tooth labret; (top right) pin-shaped steatite labret; (middle right) steatite labret (labrets 4,500-1,500 years old). Bottom, left to right: carved antler wolf-effigy comb (ca. 1,200 years old); group of slate disc beads (2,500-1,500 years old); (heron or crane effigy); (bottom) rectangular perforated steatite "whatzit"; (middle) trapezoidal "whatzit" (3,500-2,500 years ago); (lower right) steatite earspool. Whale-tooth labret is from the Queen Charlotte Islands, the wolf-comb from Prince Rupert harbour; all other objects from various south-coast sites. The antler and bone carvings were probably ritual paraphernalia, possibly belonging to a shaman. Labrets were worn as ornaments in perforations' in the lower lip and were still in use historically by north-coast women; prehistorically they were worn by both sexes on the north and south coast. Earspools were decorations inserted in slits in the earlobe. Wolf-comb is 5.7 cm long.
Courtesy: Roy Carlson, Simon Fraser University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Canadian Museum of Civilization, National Museums of Canada
