Bantaca

A Bantaca was a type of obelisk around which Bajoran cities were built. The Bantaca would mark the city’s location in the cosmos and display markings to note the cities coordinates.

In 2373 Benjamin Sisko used the image of a Bantaca on an icon painting of B'hala to locate the lost city. The rediscovered site soon became an archaeological dig and location of pilgrimage. When Jake Sisko worked on the archeologically dig he generally avoided the Bantaca in the day to avoid the attention from those praying and meditating beneath the spire who held him in reverence for being the son of the Emissary. (DS9 episode: Rapture; novel: Avatar)