This small figure may have been one of a pair known as ‘itara’, which were said to represent ancestral couples. When in use, each figure was clad in the garments appropriate to its gender, the male in a loincloth and the female in a skirt. They were kept within the house of the lineage chief and have been documented being hung in clusters from posts called ‘ruma tara’ with other ancestral relics and sacred objects in local ceremonies. Although the exact function of these ceremonies remains uncertain, one accound reports that itara could be used for the detection of thieves. The ancestral spirits they represented being invoked to go forth in pursuit of the culprits. Another rite devoted to two local deities was recorded, in which five ‘itara’ were assembled to form the crew of a miniature boat. Though this figure has distinct Atauro characteristics, particularly of the hands and feet, the broad bands on the arms, the long straight erect limbs and forward-pointing shoulders, stylistically it relates closely to both Timor and to the other islands in East Nusa Tenggara, particularly Flores and Wetar.
