Stone figure of human on human head

Date:
circa 1000 – 1700
Record:
RBCM EbRj-Y-1729

This unique stone figure shows a human, with a lizard on its back, squatting above a small hole on the top of a large human head. It has been suggested that the figure represents a woman giving birth to a child.

The stone figure was believed to have been used in a special ceremony. When a young girl reached puberty she was isolated in the woods under strict supervision. When she returned from the woods, a ritualist or shaman, sprinkled her with water from the hole on the top of the head.

It was found in 1893, in the Lytton area in the Interior of British Columbia. Its age is unknown, but it likely dates to between 300 and 1000 years ago.

This object selected by Grant Keddie. View Profile »