Low Man on the Totem Pole

Show me to your friends and tell them where they can view the real thing - on the West coast of Canada, especially on the Queen Charlotte Islands. After you move me on to the next cache you will no longer be the "low man on the totem pole!" :)

Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, usually cedar, but mostly Western Redcedar, by cultures of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The word "totem" is derived from the Ojibwe word odoodem, "his kinship group".

The beginning of totem pole construction started in North America. Being made of wood (cedar), which decays eventually in the rainforest environment of the Northwest Coast, so few examples of poles carved before 1800 exist (noteworthy examples include those at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, BC and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC in Vancouver, dating as far back as 1880). And, while 18th century accounts of European explorers along the coast indicate that poles certainly existed prior to 1800, they were smaller and few in number.

The meanings of the designs on totem poles are as varied as the cultures which make them. Totem poles may recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events. Some poles are erected to celebrate cultural beliefs, but others are intended mostly as artistic presentations. Certain types of totem poles are part of mortuary structures incorporating grave boxes with carved supporting poles, or recessed backs in which grave boxes were placed. Poles are also carved to illustrate stories, to commemorate historic persons, to represent shamanic powers, and to provide objects of public ridicule. Totem poles were never objects of worship.