Editing Labret (section)

==Anthropology==
[[Image:MocheWomanwithLabret.jpg|right|thumb|[[Moche (culture)|Moche]] figurine depicting a woman with labret. [[Larco Museum]] Collection. Lima-Peru]]
[[File:Across Arctic America p 292.png|thumb|Anguisinaoq, a [[Baillie Island]] man, wearing labrets between 1921–24. They were considered "old school" at the time.]]

The labret was a traditional piercing among the American Northwest Coast Indians, where it was related to [[Social status|status]]:

<blockquote>"access to labrets. After 3,000 [[Before Present|BP]], a divergence in labret wear in north and south coasts. In the north from 1500 - 3500 BP, more labrets worn by males. After 1500 BP, labrets worn by females. In the south, between 2000 - 3500 BP, worn by males and females, but from 2000 BP on, labrets generally disappear and are replaced by [[artificial cranial deformation|cranial deformation]] by free males and females of whatever class (e.g. elite or commoner). So, for 4,000 years on the northwest coast, it was important to distinguish certain individuals in a very direct manner; either by cranial deformation or by labret wear. Gender and geographical region may also be identified by these methods."<ref>[https://www.sfu.ca/pres/petters-perspective/2015/groundbreaking-chair-will-help-promote-first-nations-health.html Simon Fraser University] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402091343/http://www.sfu.ca/pres/petters-perspective/2015/groundbreaking-chair-will-help-promote-first-nations-health.html |date=April 2, 2015 }}</ref></blockquote>

When a mask was being made to represent someone of high status, that mask would likewise have a labret.

[[File:Native American woman known as Skak-Ish-Stin wearing Hudson's Bay Co blanket and labret in lower lip, Alaska, ca 1904 (NOWELL 85).jpeg|thumb|Skak-Ish-Stin wearing a [[Hudson's Bay Company]] blanket and labret]]
The wearing of labrets was widely observed among [[Tlingit people|Tlingit]] women of high status at the time of European and American arrivals in [[Southeast Alaska]]. The Russian term for the Tlingit, ''Koloshi'', derived from an [[Alutiiq language|Alutiiq]] word for labret.<ref>[[Grigory Shelikhov|Shelikhov, Gregorii Ivanovich]] and Richard A. Pierce. ''A Voyage to America 1783–1786.'' Kingston: Limestone Press, 1981.</ref>

Based on analysis of the history and social context of the labret (lip plug) on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia over the last 5,000 years, Marina LaSalle asserts that "while simple correlations of the labret with 'status' and 'gender' are not wrong, nonetheless they betray the complexity of body ornamentation which, though manifested materially, is highly contextual" and that "the labret is a symbol and expression of social identity that continues to hold significant meaning for the descendants of this heritage."<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=La Salle |first=Marina |title=Beyond lip service : An analysis of labrets and their social context on the Pacific Northwest Coast of British Columbia |date=2008 |publisher=University of British Columbia |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0058398 |doi=10.14288/1.0058398}}[http://hdl.handle.net/10613/3241]</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=La Salle|first=Marina|date=2014|title=Labrets and Their Social Context on Coastal British Columbia|url=http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/183947|journal=BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly|language=en|volume=Winter 2013/14|issue=180|pages=123–153|issn=0005-2949}}</ref>