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Summary

Description
English: Taino oral traditions from the Caribbean tell how humans came to be divided into men and women. This object shows a long-beaked wader - probably a grey heron - standing on top of a turtle. The bird has human toes that identify him as a "bird-man" and potential husband for the "turtle-woman" wife. The turtle's neck and head are inclined vertically upwards to touch and perhaps be fed by the bird's beak. Originally the eyes and beak would probably have been emphasised by the kind of shell inlay still visible on other Taino sculptures.
The circular canopy or tray (most of which is now lost) at the top of the vertical support rising from the bird's back was used to hold a powdered snuff known as "cohoba", made by grinding up the hallucinogenic seeds of a shrub (Anadenanthera peregrina). After careful ritual preparations including fasting and abstinence from sex, priests would inhale the powder nasally to produce powerful hallucinogenic visions revealing knowledge of the spirit world.
Français : Les traditions orales des Taino des Caraïbes racontent comment les humains vinrent à être divisés en hommes et fmmes. Cet onjet montre un oiseau à long bec - probablement un héron gris - se tenant debout sur une torte. L'oiseau a des orteils hmains, ce qui l'identifie à un "oiseau-homme" et conjoint potentiel de la "tortue-femme". Le cou et la tête de la tortue sont tendus vers le haut et touchent le bec de l'oiseau, peut-être pour en être nourri. Originellement les yeux et le bec étaient vraisemblablement ornés de morceaux de coquillages incrustés tel qu'on en voit sur d'autres figurines taino.
Le plateau circulaire (disparu) au sommet du support vertical s'élevant depuis le dos de l'oiseau, était utilisé pour contenir du "cohoba", une poudre faite en broyant les graines hallucinogéniques d'Abadenanthera peregrina (un buisson). Après des préparations rituelles comprenant le jeûne et l'abstention sexuelle, les prêtres inhalaient la poudre par le nez pour obtenir des visions hallucinogéniques établissant des liens avec le monde des esprits.
Date
Source https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am-MI-168
Author Public domain, photo from public museum.The British Museum. Museum number Am, MI.168

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Captions

Bird figure (standing on snake ?, or tortoise ?) made of wood. 1186-1273 AD (Calibrated radiocarbon dates)

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11 February 2008

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current 20:35, 18 March 2021 Thumbnail for version as of 20:35, 18 March 2021751 × 1,000 (80 KB)Fatlady903Uploaded a work by Public domain, photo from public museum.Walters Art Museum. Warren Lampkin and Nancy Nicola, Huntington Harbor, CA [collected in the 1970's while sailing in the Caribbean]; Leonard Kalina Fine Arts, Los Angeles, prior to April 2006; Austen-Stokes Ancient Americas Foundation [John Stokes as agent], April 2, 2006, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2007, by gift. from https://art.thewalters.org/detail/3244/cohaba-inhaler-in-the-form-of-a-shaman/ with UploadWizard
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