Exhibit Label

The function of small carvings of human figures like this one is unknown. Here a seated female figure is represented. She sits with knees drawn up in the characteristic posture of the old-time Kwakwaka'wakw women. The woman's head is elongated in the form of a truncated cone which may represent a basketry hat, but more likely depicts the type of skull deformation prevalent among Kwakwaka'wakw women at the time of Euro-American contact. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)