found it!

and the word I'd forgotten was inukshuk. . .

"To the Inuit of the arctic region, inukshuk are stone figures made by piling rocks on top of one another, and used as direction indicators, danger warnings, monuments and hunting helpers. Inukshuks can be small, only one or two rocks, or large, consisting of many rocks used in a larger than life form. In the Inuit language inukshuk means 'likeness of a person'."Inukshuk in the form of humans are called inunnguag. One important type of inukshuk used in caribou hunting was embellished with arctic heather to simulate human hair. The inukshuk, or dummy hunters, where constructed in converging lines along migration routes and were intended to funnel the caribou towards places of ambush."