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wampum, belt
wampum, belt
wampum, belt
This wampum belt has shell beads sewn onto a buff coloured cloth with white thread. The buff coloured cloth is backed with printed cloth. Most of the beads are small univalve shells, perhaps marginela, drilled on one end. There are also six long beads or awls crafted from large univalve shells, and five small flat shell beads sewn onto one of the cotton cloth. The wampum belt is likely Haudenosaunee. This relative was archaeologically excavated from a grave in Union Springs, New York. The belt is currently kept at the British Museum, where it is identified as part of the Christy Collection. It was donated to the British Museum by the institution's keeper, Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, in 1889, though it was previously collected by William A Baker.
Hodenosaunee: The British Museum object catalogue lists this item as "Iroquoian." The Cayuga Nation acknowledges archaeological evidence connecting the Cayuga to the Village of Union Springs.
British Museum records and Cayuga Nation connections
British Museum records and GRASAC visit.
Read More About This Relative
Shell beads are sewn onto buff coloured cloth with white thread. The buff coloured cloth is backed with printed cotton cloth. Most of the beads are small univalve shells (marginela?), drilled in one end. There are also six long beads or awls, made large univalves, and five small flat shell beads, sewn onto one end of the cotton cloth.
The small univalve shell beads are sewn in zig-zag or snaking line, forming a long solid rectangle along the belt-shaped piece of cloth. The beads were attached to the cloth after archaeological recovery, and their present layout may or may not reflect their original assemblage. The British Museum's registration slip says the shells have been sewn onto the material in the precise positions in which they were found, maintaining the belt's original length and width.
The GRASAC team wondered if the beads are "real wampum." If it is possible that wampum came in different styles, such as these beads, could other shells have also been used? John Borrows asked if our present understandings of wampum had become conventionalized to the point where we might not see what else could be understood as wampum.
British Museum staff have seen tubes similar to these, called "seawant" or "zeawant," the Dutch word for drilled shells on strings.
Because the British Museum records indicate this relative was excavated from a grave, GRASAC has chosen to not include images of the belt. Please contact us if you have concerns about this decision.
British Museum records
Provenance
This belt, part of the Christy Collection, was donated to the British Museum by the institution's keeper, Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, in 1889. Excavated from a grave in Union Springs, New York, it was collected by William A Baker.
About This GRASAC Record
Unknown artist, wampum, belt. Currently in the British Museum, Am,+.4631. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip December 2007; GRASAC item id 26359.
This record was created as part of a Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) research trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum, December 8-22 2007, funded by a grant from the International Opportunities fund of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Researchers present: Heidi Bohaker (HB), John Borrows (JB), Lindsay Borrows (LB), Alan Corbiere (AC), Henrietta Lidchi (HL), Stacey Loyer (SL), Janis Monture (JM), Bruce Morito (BM), Ruth Phillips (RP), Anne De Stecher (AS), Cory Willmott (CW).
42.841359864386, -76.693841448284
British Museum records