It extends outwards - towards the audience - so my guess is that its darting motion is meant to have some kind of shock value. So how about it represents a spirit (e.g. protective ancestors), and is used to scare bad spirits during a cleansing/healing ceremony.

Is it to protect the graves of family by using shrunken trophy heads from captured rivals?

Nobody guessed mine last week :( http://m.imgur.com/UDCnVqN

Totally out of left field, but is that some kind of fencing with a head on it? If it had some evidence of being in water I would suggest a fish weir but I've got nothing and just want to play.

99% sure it's one of these reachy grabby things decorated with a face

So, this is my guess-

These are sacred representations of the deceased who attend meetings of the living, they are given seats (be they chairs, or the ground, or however else this culture sits down) and they are considered to be in active attendance to all of the meetings regarding important affairs, and the framework is to enable the face to be upright wherever it is placed.

These posts are great.

Was it intended to extend toward the person holding it, or toward another? And was it intended for large gatherings, small ones, or both?

Hail from /r/archaeology! I am curious, how familiar would the average historian be with identifying artifacts such as these? Particularly such a wide range?

I ask because I always imagined this kind of artifact identification was more in the realm of Archaeology rather than what a historian would spend time doing/learning? Please excuse my ignorance, I'm just curious.

Since my items are relatively easy I think, you have to get BOTH of what these two items were for:

Sweet crumbs and carrots what does this cut off edit: it's just a pair of sugarloaf nips, why would you think anything else, identified by /u/vertexoflife

and

Mother of pearl what is this supposed to squeeze edit: it just squeezes your hair, it's 2 different curling irons, the left one folds up for travel, the one on the right is a special one for making papillote curls, identified by /u/anthropology_nerd

Okay, new item, with a bioarchaeology twist. If you would have anxiety from viewing a human skull please sit this round out.

Here we go. What would cause this pathology?

Edit: The lesions are called cribra orbitalia, and in the past was confidently linked with advanced iron deficiency anemia. Now, we understand multiple pathologies can explain the presence of these lesions, and we oversimplify the diverse factors influencing health in previous populations by only entertaining one explanation for cribra orbitalia/porotic hyperostosis.

Was it placed on top of something? Some important civic structure? Keeps away bad luck/evil maybe?