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The buffalo skull It now sits at New Mexico Metal Art Gallery in Aztec, New Mexico .

The crown portion of this buffalo skull, which is approximately 800 years old, was excavated from the base of a "Buffalo Jump" in Montana.

The practice of running herds of buffalo over cliffs had been abandoned by the end of the 1600s, after the American Indian had mastered the horse.

The buffalo itself, symbolized wisdom and its skull is considered a sacred symbol among the Indians. It is interesting to take note of the fact that the buffalo skull occupies the space of a near perfect equilateral triangle. The triangle has been used by many cultures to represent the physical stability with a variety of themes.

The wanton slaughter of the buffalo was most unfortunate and represents a loss for us all. For the Indians, the loss of the buffalo was the loss of physical stability within the tribe.

The teeth are carved from nuggets of turquoise. Turquoise is one of the oldest stones used for adornment and protection. Many powers are attributed to the stone. Referred to as the skystone by Native Americans, it is believed that turquoise could keep its owner from injury and death. Turquoise was also used extensively in religious ceremonies and was carved into fetishes or inlaid into other objects.

The technique used to sculpt the missing portions of the skull is referred to as "direct metal", meaning that the metal you see is the medium used. In this case, 14 gauge sheet steel. This approach was used because when using a sculpting medium such as clay or wax, you must go through the casting process, resulting in up to a 20 percent shrinkage, and a mismatch between the immutable bone of the skull and the mutable cast metal. The problem of shrinkage does not disappear when using the "direct metal" approach, however, as pieces are fabricated and then welded together, shrinkage at the welded seam creates alignment problems, as does much of the texturing process, particularly when heat is used. Of all the problems encountered during the fabrication of this piece the alignment of the steel to the bone was the most difficult to overcome.