|
Tsimshian Society and Culture
Wealth and Rank
Labrets
|
Labret (stone)
Garden Island site, excavated 1967
(GbTo-23-1548)
|
Labrets were a mark of social status worn by men until about A.D. 1.
After that, they were worn by women, as in the period of contact
with Europeans.
Girls had their lips pierced at puberty and wore slender pieces
of bone or walrus ivory. The size of the labret was increased as
a girl matured, until it was the size of an egg.
|
A Haida woman from the Queen Charlotte Islands wearing a labret, 1884.
|
|
