Labrets are a form of body piercing in which an ornament is inserted into the upper or lower lip. In antiquity, these were made of different materials: bone, wood, stone, ivory, or metal and were worn by many groups all around the world, from Africa to the Arctic, to Mesoamerica and South America.
Labret Diffusion in Precolumbian America
In the ancient Americas, labrets were primarly used among the Maya and Aztec of Mesoamerica, in North America by the Aleuts of the Arctic and in the North West Coast. In South America these ornaments were widespread in Ecuador and even today are still worn by important chiefs in many Amazonian tribes.
In Precolumbian and contact period America, these ornaments had different shapes. They could be lip plates, or lip plugs in a T-shape or ovals, or as multiple dots placed on the chin and around the lips.
These ornaments could reflect social high status or important life passages. For example young boys and girls were often given labrets at the moment of entering adult life such as marriage or initiation rites. The size of labrets could also increase throughout people's lifetime or as the social importance of the person wearing them grew.
Labrets in North America: the Northwest Coast
Probably the best known examples of labret wearing comes from the people of the Northwest coast of North America. Here, labrets were related to status and, after a period of general widespread use in the whole region, by 3000 BC labrets became typical of the northern groups, like the Haida, of Queen Charlotte island, the Tlingit of the Alexander Archipelago and the Tsimshian of Prince Rupert Harbor.
A further differentiation through time involved which gender could wear labrets. Archaeological evidence tells us that initially, between 3000 and 1500 BC, labrets were worn solely by men. From about 1500 BC to 500 BC, labrets were worn mostly by women; and between 500 BC and AD 1770, labrets were worn mainly by men. During the Modern period after AD 1770, labrets were generally ornaments for women; the size of the labret still reflected differentiation in status.
Labrets and Archaeology
Labrets are found archaeologically mainly in burials, but also in domestic contexts, often broken into pieces. Archaeologists noticed that when labrets are absent in burials, it is still possible recognize if the dead was of high status, and therefore wore a labret during his/her life, by the signs of abrasion or the total loss of the teeth behind where a labret was worn.
Labrets were such an important part of the identify of a man or woman in ancient America, that even masks, statues, and human effigy pots were sometimes portaryed wearing a labret.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to the Arctic Cultures, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Ames, Kenneth and Herbert D.G. Maschner, 1999, Peoples of the Northwest Coast. Their Archaeology and Prehistory, Thames and Hudson, London.