This ancestor has a curved elongated beak, a long rectangular body, downward head and a raised tail. This birdstone is green and tan, with dark and light laminations, and curved bands of yellow discolorations or stains along the bottom where the birdstone rests. This ancestor has two large protruding globular eyes with pits on their surface. The birdstone also presents some pits along the center of the body and chips along the tail, exposing the raw stone, as well as some scratches on its beak. Unlike most birdstones, its base is not perforated. Currently, this ancestor resides at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The term birdstone is a legacy of earlier archaeological work and does not consider the full variety in shape and functionality these relatives may have had within Indigenous communities. We invite Great Lakes nations to help us improve our understanding of how to identify and name these relatives. Birdstones have been found and collected from various contexts including hearths inside houses, in fields, and burial contexts. To the best of our knowledge, none of the birdstones in GRASAC’s Knowledge Sharing Platform come from burial contexts.

It is difficult to know the cultural origin of this ancestor due to the unknown context of its collection, its age and the fact that birdstones have been found throughout the American northeast. It may have travelled long distances, making its origin hard to determine.

Royal Ontario Museum documentation, research provided by Dr. Tiziana Gallo.

Kent and Elgin, Ontario listed in Royal Ontario Museum records.