Rattle Item Number: A3796 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Painted wood rattle held together with metal nails and having strands of commercial black wool representing hair while a handle forms the lower jaw. The white face has circular black eyes outlined by a tapering oval surrounded by a green area with black brows above and a very thin continuous orange-red line below the brows. The nostrils are orange-red and there are five sideways orange-red u forms along the cheeks. The open, downward turned, orange-red mouth shows white teeth with curved line that has perpendicular lines across it. At either side of the mouth, there is a pair of orange-red u forms within a black one side-by-side. Vertical orange-red dashes are at either sides of the handle. The back of the head is painted black with a black ovoid within a small white oval.

History Of Use

Were carried and shaken by Hamats!a attendants: to solalhala Hamats!a dancer". (D. Roberts, J. Dick, A. Alfred, 1966).

Cultural Context

ceremonial

Iconographic Meaning

Depicts a decapitated head. (D. Roberts, 1966)