A lip plug or ornament inserted in an incision in the lower lip, often made of shell, bone, ivory, metal, stone, wood, or pottery. Sometimes a succession would be worn, each larger than the predecessor. Labrets indicated the eminence of the wearer, e.g., women of high rank of the northwest coast of North America. Although styles vary and labrets were particularly popular in Mesoamerica, they occur in artifact inventories from the Arctic to the Andes.
