Iyyama's totem

A piece of scrimshaw carved from the tooth of a massive shark and inlaid with garnets, the totem of the god Iyyama was described as 'ancient' in the earliest written histories of the region. It is central to the local's veneration of the great seal-god, and their origin mythology recounts how Iyyama Himself granted the tribe the strength to overcome the great shark (a symbolic and literal figure of death) in a communal hunt, and the heroic efforts which won fifteen garnets from the fire gods.

Design

Face

There are fifteen garnets inlaid into piercings along the live edge of the tooth. In the centre of the tooth is a stylised relief carving showing a large seal with an open mouth and visible teeth, intended to represent the god Iyyama. Above the seal are three icons representing boats, and below it are three smaller seals.

Obverse

The obverse of the tooth has a series of natural parallel grooves running frm the edge to the base. The grooves are inlaid with mother-of-pearl and smoothed to form a flat surface.

Significance

The garnets symbolise the original fifteen families of the šülke tribe. The shps and the seals symolise Iyyama's equal protection of both aspects of the šülke's dual nature.
Iyyama's totem is believed to be the earlist surviving document of a contract between a deity and Their followers.

Recent history

The totem resides in the temple on Buhe-saari, once the highest mountain on the peninsula, now a small, unihabited island. Its theft and subsequent return in 1925 was the catalyst for the formal recognition and legal protection of the šülke tribe.

Manufacturing process

Handmade with stone tools, the totem was consecrated to Iyyama

by fossilera.com

Item type

Religious / Ritualistic

Weight

418 g (0.92 lb)

Dimensions

6.5 x 5.1 inches (16.5 x 12.7 cm)

Raw materials & Components

Shark tooth and garnet