190 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



SHELL ORNAMENTS 



[Bull. 182 



Worked shell occurred only as items of personal adornment. These 

 include various shapes of shell beads for necklaces or attachments for 

 clothing, and shell discoidals which were worn either around the neck 

 or suspended from the neck, resting upon the breast, as illustrated in 

 figure 44. 



Figure 44. — Carrying arrangement of large shell gorget as worn on the chest of the 

 individual, Clarksville site, 44Mcl4. 



All shells were identified by Dr. J. P. E. Morrison, of the Depart- 

 ment of Zoology, U.S. National Museum. 



The shell heads are of many shapes and sizes. Some are disk- 

 shaped, others are cylindrical, others are hemispherical, while still 

 others are barrel-shaped with either flattened or biconcave bases. The 

 larger and heavier beads are made from the columella of large marine 

 gastropods such as Busy con perversum or Busy con contrarium (Con- 

 rad). Smaller beads are made from sections of either Busy con con- 

 trarium (Conrad) or a type of Elliptio ( ?), a freshwater pearly mus- 

 sel, since some of the beads are definitely mother-of-pearl. 



Each individual bead constitutes merely a unit in an entire necklace, 

 but when considered as an entity starting from a small, squared, shell 

 blank w^iich had to be drilled, rounded off, and then reduced in diam- 

 eter and thickness to the desired size (pi. 72) — all of which entails 



