Even imitation totemsĪre pricy, and spending $2000 on a cheaply made fake is in many ways less affordable than spending $8000 on a It is probably not hand-carved, not made by a native artist, and/or not carved from a single tree trunk. I hate to put things in purely financial terms, but frankly, if you find a large totem pole being sold for less than $500 a foot, Given the cost of a full-grown cedar tree and the amount of hand-carving and painting required to make a totem pole. This is probably the single most expensive native art form there is, no surprise

Today, both short and tall totem poles are still enthusiastically made by Northwestern and Alaskan IndianĪrtists, and it is possible to purchase one- for a price. Neither was possible for the majestic totem poles created during the 1800's, which were made of single pieces of cedar wood The totem poles in Haida, Tlingit, Kwakiutl, and other Northwest Coast folklore were carried by men or stood inside a room. Totem poles have definitely grown in size since the acquisition of European woodcarving tools, though. Stylized and distinctive it would be hard to believe they Since Native American totems are made out of wood, which decays over time, there is no way to prove toĪnthropologists that this assertion is false, but the oral histories of Northwest Indians and their neighbors are unanimousĪbout the totem pole existing in those cultures long before European arrival, and the form and design of Northwest totem poles are so You will hear an anthropologist claim that Native American tribes did not make totem poles at all before Europeans came In Canada-and some of the Athabaskan tribes of southern Alaska.Ĭontrary to popular belief, the Southwest Indians, Plains Indians,Īnd Inuit never built totem poles (there are no trees that size in the Sonoran desert or the Arctic tundra!) Now and then, though, Totem poles are an ancient tradition of the Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast-Washington state in the USA, British Columbia If you're looking for information about totem animalsĪnd their meanings instead, please click here: Native American Animal Totems. American Indian Totem Poles This page is about Native American totem pole carving.

Pacific northwest totem pole