Pap. No!" 25T' JO^™^ H:- KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — MILLER 193 



columella groove it has been determined that all of these large beads 

 were made from Busy con coiitmrium (Conrad) . A few of these beads 

 still retain their original high polish but the majority are either partly 

 weathered or partly covered with the usual brownish- red patina ( ?). 

 It appears that that section of the bead which was in direct contact 

 Avith the dead body, during the period of decomposition, underwent 

 a certain chemical change resulting in this brownish-red covering. 

 Under this covering lay a softer layer of shell, much softer than the 

 rest of the shell. Other beads and those portions of beads which were 

 free of this contact suffered none of this ill effect and hence were 

 not altered in appearance, with the exception of color loss, a change 

 from the bright hue of the original shell to a dull white as a result of 

 resting in the ground. 



The size of the perforation in this type of bead is very small, averag- 

 ing 2 mm. Penetration is more or less straight through the entire 

 bead with practically no constriction near the middle as though the 

 bead were drilled from both ends. It is almost certain that a stone 

 drill was not used to perform this task, since no drills of equal di- 

 ameter were found in the entire site. 



That these beads were made elsewhere and traded into this por- 

 tion of the Roanoke drainage is a possibility that cannot be over- 

 looked. If such were the case, then the beads must have come from 

 the south, since this type of Busycon is native only to the Gulf of 

 Mexico and the eastern Florida waters. 



Another bead type consists of large rough sections of Busycon 

 columella, 4 mm. to 33 mm. in length. All rough edges of these 

 sections are smoothed and rounded; the central perforation was 

 made by drilling with a long, thin drill from either end, meeting 

 somewhere near the center of the bead. In most cases, juncture is 

 true, but in a number of instances contact was made only after re- 

 peated drillings. 



A single necklace, composed mostly of this type of bead (pi. 73, d\ 

 fig. 46), consists of 20 large columella sections interspersed with 23 

 spheroid columella beads (fig. 46, e) . An exceedingly heavy ornament, 

 it weighs slightly over 14 ounces. 



Still another bead type (fig. 46, /), made from the columella of 

 Busycon sp., is hemispherical or a rounded cone in outline. Diameters 

 vary from 10 mm. to 18 mm. and heights from 7 mm. to 15 mm. The 

 central perforation, slightly less than 2 mm. in diameter, is uniform 

 throughout, indicating that drilling was from one surface only. 

 Twenty such beads were found in a single necklace. Each appeared to 

 have been hung pendant fashion from a common cord, the whole com- 

 pletely encircling the neck. 



