Pendant

A hei tiki (human form pendant) made of pounamu (greenstone). Human figure with oversized head tilted to one side, arms akimbo, legs flexed, feet together. Part of the circumference of one eye is broken off. Perforation has broken, and a new one has been made in the back of the head from top to bottom, leaving a bar.

Hei tiki are carved neck pendants of uncertain origin. Some believe that they represent Tiki, the first man; others believe that the pendants could represent Hineteiwaiwa, the ancestral goddess of fertility. Hei tiki are often heirlooms of prestige. Most were made of greenstone, though some were made of whale bone. Their value derives from the hours of labor required to carve the hard material and from association with the ancestors through whose hands the carvings have passed, from generation to generation.