What are the different types of Northwest Coast totem poles?

Native Americans of the Northwest Coast created seven principal types of totem poles, each serving a distinct social or functional purpose:

• Memorial or Heraldic Poles: Erected when a house changed ownership to commemorate the previous owner and identify the new one.
• Grave Markers: Functioned as tombstones for the deceased.
• House Posts: Structural elements designed to support the roof of a dwelling.
• Portal Poles: Featured a carved opening at the base that served as an entrance to the house.
• Welcoming Poles: Placed at the water's edge to identify the owner of the waterfront property.
• Mortuary Poles: Specifically constructed to hold the remains of the deceased.
• Ridicule Poles: Used to shame an important individual who had failed in some way; the person's likeness was carved upside down on the pole.

These poles were often expensive to commission and served as symbols of the owner's affluence and lineage, displaying family crests and mythological figures that represented ancestral or supernatural beings.1