Distribution of Pearls, nnd Peatl-shell. 1 1 3 



pearls were originally thought to have been brought from 

 fisheries in southern waters, but are now considered as 

 having been derived, partly, if not entirely, from the fresh- 

 water mussels (Unto) so abundant in the rivers of the 

 region of the mounds. VV. C. Mills, in his " Explorations 

 of the Edwin Harness Mound,""' also speaks of the large 

 quantities of freshwater pearls ma;de into beads which 

 were found in every section of the Harness Mound. In 

 one instance more than two thousand of these beads were 

 found with one burial. They are all small, some being 

 perfectly round. Several hundred were obtained ranging 

 in diameter from a quarter to half an inch. In some cases 

 the large pearls had been flattened on one side and set in 

 copper ; in others, the pearls were often flattened and 

 pierced with two holes, as if for attachment to fabrics, 

 etc. The most curious discovery, however, in this mound 

 was that of imitation pearls made of clay, and apparently 

 modelled from real ones. These clay imitations appear 

 to have been coated with mica and then burned so as to 

 preserve a pearly appearance. This remarkable discovery 

 is of great interest as recalling the clay pellets used by 

 the Chinese in their artificial pearl-making industry. 



At the Gartner Mound, in the same region, a shell 

 gorget was found with a hole cut in the centre and a 

 pearl cut and mounted to fill it."* And gorgets and 

 crescents made from fresh-water pearl-shells were by no 

 means uncommon in this and other Ohio mounds.' 



In his description of "The Seip Mound," "^ situated 

 within the largest prehistoric earthworks of the Paint 



' " Ohio Archaol. and Hist. Quart., vol. xvi., no. 2, 1907. 



1" Mills, " Exploralions of the Gartner Mound and Village Site," 

 O/iio Arc/i. and Hist. Quart., vol. xiii., no. 2, 1904. 



^^' Mills, "The Seip Mound," Putnam Anniversary Volume. N.Y., 

 1909, pp. no, 1 14 and 122. 



