Common Guillemot / Common Murre skull (Uria aalge) They are woven by women

They are woven by women and given to young men after their initiation and are worn on the chest or sometimes on the back and even occasionally held in the teeth

This is a lovely skull of the Manx shearwater Manx shearwater skull Puffinus puffinus

For an interesting overview of the history and different styles have a look at the Australian Museum website http://australianmuseum

This is a lovely Victorian example and

Common Guillemot / Common Murre skull (Uria aalge) They are woven by womenThis is a skull of the common guillemot, also known as the common murre Uria aalge. This species is a large member of the Auk family with circumpolar distribution of the sub species in the Northern waters. They breed in huge colonies with a density of up to 20 pairs on one square metre of rock. They are expert divers with diving depths of 180m being recorded in search of food. This specimen was from a dead bird washed up on the shore. It is a very