Mid 20th century AD or earlier. A lentoid-section oval schist-like stone totem or churinga engraved ing the incisor tooth of a possum with hawk tracks moving around two circular spiral motifs, the latter possibly representing water holes or campsites, enclosed in an oval border and a series of concentric arches or horse-shoe motifs; the reverse with a cross motifposed of a single horizontal line bisected by three vertical lines; rubbed with grease and red ochre during ceremonial e; apanied by a handwritten note which reads: 'Pete Jabaltjari-Chicken Hawk totem from his place at Alice Springs 1968'. See Durkheim, E., The Elementary Forms of Religio Life, Karen Fields translation, The Free Press, 1995 (1912); Kempe, H., Vocabulary of the Tribes Inhabiting the Macdonnell Ranges, RSSA, v.XIV, 1898, pp.1-54, for discsion; Spencer, B. ed., The Arunta-A study of a Stone Age People, Vol. II, Macmillan, London, 1927, p.571, forparable; Strehlow, T.G.H., Aranda Traditions, Melbourne University Press, 1947, pp.85-6, for discsion ofparable. 1 kg, 41cm (16 1/4"). Acquired in the late-1980s. Property of a UK collector. Apanied by an inked slip: 'Pete Jabaltjari - Chicken Hawk totem / from his place Alice Springs 1963' and by an information sheet detailing the burial place of a Peter Jabaltjari and other information relating to provenance and background of the item. A churinga or tjurunga is an object considered to be of great religio significance by Central Atralian Aboriginal people and were mostmonly circular, oval or oblong in shape and made from polished stone or wood. In the early 20th century and before, only initiated males were able to see or touch them. Each churinga has its own 'name', which was sung or chanted whenever it was inspected or handled. In mythology, the ancestors believed the churingas were an integral part of their own being, sometimes stolen away by those who stole the stones. The stones were of great interest to European anthropologists and sociologists of totemic religion and the Sacred; the renowned Emile Durkheim considered the churinga to be an archetype of the sacred item. [No Reserve]