From the Maori people, Murdering Bay, New Zealand (early 1900's).

Pendants of this type are known in Maori as 'heitiki'. 'Heitiki' are treasured heirlooms, passed down through families, and seen as a link to the ancestors who previously owned them. 'Heitiki' could be buried with their owner, then retrieved when the bones were dug up for a second burial and passed on to a family member. The Maori people traditionally believed that at death the spirit travelled to a tree at the highest point of New Zealand, then down into the sea and on to the place of the ancestors.