540 



SHELL 



[B. A. E, 



Some of the objects were neatly carved, 

 the frog being frequently imitated in pen- 

 dant ornaments. Dentaliuin shells were 

 strung as beads by the coast tribes, and 



"^ / / 



especially noteworthy, many being evi- 

 dently symbolic and depicting serpents, 

 birds, spiders, danc-ing figures in elabo- 

 rate costume, etc. Some of these, found 

 in mounds in the middle Mississippi val- 

 lev region, have designs closely resem- 



\/ 



IONS OF Shells Useo for Ornaments and 



IMPLEMENTS 



formed an important article of trade with 

 those of the interior. On the Pacific coast 

 the larger varieties of clam shell (Tivela, 

 Saxidomusj were employed in the nianu- 



USE OF THE COLUMN OF THE CONCH SHELL 



facture of beads and other objects, and 

 the abalone was in universal demand for 

 personal ornaments; and baskets and 

 other objects of use and ornament were 

 decked with 

 pendants 

 made of it. 

 This shell 

 was in very 

 general use 

 for settings 

 and inlay- 

 ing, and was 

 and is em- 

 ployed for 

 these pur- 

 poses with 

 excellent ef- 

 fect by the 

 tribes of the 

 N. W. coast. 

 The oper- 

 cule of a spe- 

 cies of Turbinidpe {Pachypoma inequale) 

 was also used in like manner by the tribes 

 of the N. W. coast. 



Probably the most effective and im- 

 portant ornaments of shell employed by 



Shell Pins; Tennessee mounds (a, i- 

 6, 2 9) 



MANNER OF BORING SHELL BEADS 



the mound-building tribes were disks, 

 highly polished, carved, or engraved with 

 designs, and suspended on the chest or 

 from the ears. The designs on these are 



KINO SHtLL BEADS, CALIFORNIA INDIANS 



bling Mexican work, although undoubt- 

 edly of local manufacture. 



Shells and objects made of shell served 

 as an important feature of trade between 

 the coast and inland tribes, and in many 

 localities were used as money. The conch 



SHELL BEADS FROM GEORGIA MOUNDS (l-2 



shells of the Atlantic coast and the Gulf 

 of Mexico are found in mounds in the 

 upper Mississippi valley, and even in 

 Manitoba, and shells from the Pacific 

 were in common use as far inland as the 

 Rockv mts. We l(>arn from historical 



WAMPUM belt; 



sources that some varieties of shell, in- 

 cluding the conch, were employed by the 

 natives of the H, S., and S. W. for trum- 

 pets, and also on occasion in ceremony 

 and as votive offerings. Fossil shells, 



