This ancestor has a curved head that ends with what appears to be a pointed beak, resembling a bird. This ancestor has a marbled red, dark brown, and gray colouring. It has a slightly ridged back that connects to a raised, wide and flat tail. It does not have feet and has a smoothed underbelly which it comfortably rests on. This ancestor is perforated on both ends and has a completely smoothed face. This ancestor has some scratches across its body and head and has prominent marks likely left by an attachment along its lower body. It has worn notches on both sides of its tail, and striations emerging from these notches suggest that something used to be tied to the tail. 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.

Information from this entry comes from the ROM's catalogue alongside Dr. Tiziana Gallo's research on Birdstones.

ROM Catalogue