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. Very fine. Remains of gum in the eyes. Back slightly rounded. The original piercing was broken, and a new piercing was made just below.

Hei tiki are carved neck pendants, with an 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.