Introduction

Archaeological Excavation

Tsimshian Society and Culture

Shamanism
Trade
Warfare
Wealth and Rank
To Honour the Ancestors
Labrets
Coppers
Totems
Feasts and Potlatches
Men's Activities
Women's Activities

Tsimshian Villages

Tsimshian Society and Culture

Wealth and Rank

Labrets

Labret - CD95-759-005 - S93-8104 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.

Haida woman A Haida woman from the Queen Charlotte Islands wearing a labret, 1884.
 


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