114 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 



Creek valley of Ohio, this same authority refers to other 

 occurrences of pearls including a beautiful string of these 

 gems in a good state of preservation from one burial ; 

 also to the discovery of bears' teeth set with pearls' in 

 what appeared to be sacred shrines for the dead. 



In addition to the archaeologists cited above, other 

 noted authorities, including W. K. Moorehead, have 

 examined the mounds of the Ohio region, and have met 

 with abundant evidence, both in the burial and in the 

 altar mounds, of the ancient appreciation of pearls.'™ 



When found in burial mounds with skeletons, the 

 pearls are usually at the wrists or ankles, or about the 

 neck, or in the mouth, the latter recalling forcibly the 

 Hindu and Chinese custom of placing pearls in the mouth 

 of the dead {supra pp. 89 and 100). 



In the case of the altar mounds, there is evidence of 

 a different procedure. Instead of a burial, there was a 

 great funeral sacrifice in honour of some distinguished 

 person, in which numerous treasures, including quantities 

 of pearls, were consumed, or meant to be. 



It would seem that though the number of pearls 

 encountered in the mounds of the Ohio region is very 

 great, the graves which contain them are relatively very 

 few. They seem to have been buried only with persons 

 of special distinction, probably either chiefs or eminent 

 medicine men : this preferential use of pearls, it may be 

 observed, was also found in Asiatic countries. 



In the mounds of Illinois pearls have also been met 

 with associated with skeletons of Indians. Dr. J. F. 

 Snyder records the discovery of large caniiie teeth of the 

 bear, set with pearls, at the base of a large mound which 

 he opened in 1895, in Brown County, on the west side 



1 - » An excellent summary of the work of these authorities is given by 

 Kunz and Stevenson (op. cit., especially in Chap, xvii.) 



