Haida Gwaii Argillite Carvings


Argillite is similar to catlinite, a material traditionally used by Indigenous peoples of the American Plains to carve ceremonial pipes. While catlinite is reddish-brown due to its high iron oxide content, argillite is dark grey to black, owing to its higher carbon content.

The Haida source their argillite from the Slatechuck quarry on Slatechuck Mountain near Skidegate, on the eastern side of Graham Island in Haida Gwaii. In the Skidegate dialect, it is called kwawhlhal. The quarry’s location is remote and closely guarded, as this unique variety of argillite exists nowhere else in the world and is reserved exclusively for Haida artists.

The earliest known report of the Slatechuck quarry dates to around 1820, when prospectors searching for coal or copper discovered the black slate. Ethnographer Marius Barbeau later documented that George Gunya, one of the first recognized argillite carvers, owned the land at the time.

Unlike other argillites, the Slatechuck variety contains no quartz or feldspar and features a complex organic matrix. Formed approximately 70 million years ago from kaolin-rich shale heated by a nearby volcanic vent, it resembles shale in appearance but is microscopically distinct due to its high organic content.


 

Haida Gwaii Argillite Carvings