wampum, white and purple shell; plant fibre twine; hand-tanned hide; cotton thread.

This belt has ten rows of beads and eleven warp threads. The twists in the weft plant fibre twine are looser than usual. LP said the beads look particularly even and in this way resemble factory produced beads. However, CW suggests they are hand-made. The purple beads are narrower than the white beads (1.5 inches - 13 purple beads, 1.5 inches of white beads - 10.5 beads). The maker was likely selective in bead size to ensure evenness of rows. LP observed that museum repair is evident.

Four squares, one bead thick at top and bottom, two beads wide on sides. The squares are made of purple beads and filled with white beads. A horizontal row of cassilated purple beads is found on the ends. There is figure ground play between white and purple on this belt.

Horatio Hale called this belt "The Four Nations Alliance Belt." According to Hale's description, the squares represent four towns or tribes with their territories, and the purple ends represent French towns or houses that protected native tribes against "their persistent Iroquois enemies, and against the marauding Indians of the south and west, especially the Cherokees and the Saulks and Foxes" (Hale, 1897: 241). RP suggested It may have been made in the War of 1812 period, which makes sense in terms of the belt's evenness.

LP notes that the documentation accompanying this belt is extensive and shouldn't be dismissed.

Horatio Hale dated the belt as made between 1710 and 1720. However, RP suggests it was made around time of the War of 1812.

Collected by Horatio Hale while at the Anderdon Reserve, which he visited in 1872 and 1874. The Pitt Rivers Museum Object Catalogue lists Chief Joseph White as the original owner. This item was part of a larger donation of four wampum belts (1896.7.7, 1896.7.8, 1896.7.9, 1896.7.10) and a box of wampum beads (1896.7.11).

This item was exhibited at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, as part of "The Spirit Sings" exhibition, January 1988.

Hale, Horatio. "Four Huron Wampum Records: A Study of Aboriginal American History and Mnemonic," Journal of the Anthropological Institute XXVI, 1897; Tylor, E.B. "The Hale Series of Huron Wampum Belts (Notes and Addenda)," Journal of the Anthropological Institute XXVI, 1897; The Spirit Sings Catalogue (McClelland & Stewart, 1987), 47.

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), Stacey Loyer (SL), Janis Monture (JM), Laura Peers (LP), Ruth Phillips (RP), Anne De Stecher (AS), Cory Willmott (CW).