This ancestor resembles a bird with its long, pointed beak and curved back and what appears to be a tail. Its body is made of smoothed stone in a light brown colour, with traces of marbled light grey on its beak and body. There are also scratches on this ancestor, and a hole under its beak and near its underbelly suggesting it may have been worn as a pendant or attached to another ancestor. The eyes have been carved out, with pupils protruding from the sides of the ancestor. Currently, this birdstone 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.  

Possibly Odawa, Poawatami, or Ojibwe. This ancestor was uncovered in Chatham-Kent, in what is now known as Ontario. We invite Great Lakes nations to help us improve our understanding of the nation of origin of these ancestors. 

Information shared by Dr. Tiziana Gallo, Rebanks Fellow, Ontario Archaeology, Royal Ontario Museum.

This ancestor was uncovered in Chatham-Kent, in what is now known as Ontario.