Great Wampum Belt of Union
Great Wampum Belt of Union
Great Wampum Belt of Union
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purple and white wampum,hide thong, vegetable fiber, blue thread (used for repair) and conservation mesh
14 rows, purple ground with white figures
left to right: two wigwams,five men, first with arms on hips, two with arms down, two with hands joined holding a flag between them with hearts depicted in purple,seven houses with peaked roofs. first house tho the right of the two men with joined hands has a solid wite roof; the ground under the houses has a white ground under them while the two wigwams have purple ground under them
Alan Corbiere: If this is the Great Belt of Union presented at a council at Brownstown then four figures to left could represent that council - primarily Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Wendat. The one other figure would be the English.
Not clear what the seven houses would represent. Could they be the Great Lakes forts? Could the 'flag' be the 'king's broad axe' or war hammer that is referred to in speeches during the period of the War of 1812; broad axes were distinguished from other types in lists of gifts
Provenance
About This GRASAC Record
Record created during GRASAC visit to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History from Dec 3-7, 2012. The visit was funded by the Smithsonian's Recovering Voices project in order to work with GRASAC to develop a methodology for incorporating indigenous language research with material culture research.
Participants (during the week): Alan Corbiere, Lisa Truong, Crystal Migwans, Ruth Phillips, Mary Ann Corbiere, Rand Valentine, Myna Toulouse and Theodore Toulouse