|
Large
Clay Bird Containing Human Hair
|
Below: A human hair implanted in the bird's tail. These
appear with surprising frequency in clay effigies at this site. Perhaps
this was a religious ritual, birds having been regarded in many early cultures as a link between this world and the
afterlife. Maybe embedding the hair was a way of hitching a ride into the eternal. This hair became
detached, but was salvaged and sent with several others to the
Center for the Study of the First Americans, where they were
identified as human. |
|
Below: The object in
situ, on its back, still half buried.
|
|
Below:
Right side of fat (pregnant?) hair-bearing bird. Note the
ochre and green plant matter in the mud amalgam from which it was
fabricated. The embedded hair is visible protruding from
the tail.
|
| Below: View from
above. The separate head was pressed onto the body. Note that the eye on the head
is in the abstract form of a bird, a very common feature
in both clay and rock effigies. |
| Unfortunately, this remarkable artifact has since dried out and deteriorated badly. |
|
