Marine shell, with what appears to be red pigment in the tail of the animal.

Punched with two holes in the manner of gorgets, incised with lines and dots. Lewis Debassige looked at the shape and motifs and sees a representation of a mole.

Lewis Debassige looked at the shape and motifs and sees a representation of a mole.

From Annual Archaeological Report of Ontario for 1897. Provincial archaeologist David Boyle wrote: "It is part of a busycon or some other large shell, and measures nearly eight inches in length by four in breadth. In a rough way, it seems to represent a turtle, the hinder portion of which has been broken off. The incised lines are sharply cut, but the execution is so rough as to show us that no drawing had been made to guide the hand of the graver.
"Perhaps the most instructive lesson deducible from this specimen is to be found in the central part of the design, where we find that the workman has not employed any kind of dividers to mark what he intended to be circles. The work has been hurriedly performed - perhaps on purpose to place as an offering with the body buried in this mound - for not only are the lines unsymmetrical in their arrangement, but on the right side it will be noticed that one of the rows of shallow holes has been left incomplete. Several tons of earth were carefully sifted in vain, to find what appeared to be the missing hinder part of the specimen. The conclusion, however, was at last reached that the portion figured was all that had been buried; probably all that ever had been made; that it had been made simply to deposit in the mound, and this supposition receives support from the fact that the suspension holes on the right-hand edge of the body show no signs of the slightest wear." See publication history below for full citation details.

ROM records note that the gorget dates to the "Initial Woodland" period. The Canadian Encyclopedia indicates that this archaeologically-defined period is from 3000-2400 years BP (Before Present.)

The gorget was found on the farm of Mr. James Miller, Otonabee Township, Ontario, within a few hundred yards of the Otonabee River.

ROM records note it was collected by David Boyle in 1896.

Annual Archaeological Report of Ontario and museum documentation.

Sketch & comment appear in the Annual Archaeological Reports of Ontario: David Boyle, "Notes on Some Specimens," in Annual Archaeological Report 1896-97, being part of Appendix to the Report of the Minister of Education, Ontario, 1897 (Toronto: Warwick Bro's & Rutter, 1897) p. 56.

Also appears in ROM Arch. Monograph 9, 1986: 12-13

A complete set of the AAROs are available in the library of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Unknown artist, gorget or lid. Currently in the Royal Ontario Museum, NS14818. GRASAC item id 24562.

Record created during a GRASAC trip to Royal Ontario Museum December 15 to 19, 2008. Present in the archaeology lab: Lewis Debassige (LD), Heidi Bohaker (HB), Stacey Loyer (SL), Darlene Johnston (DJ) and April Hawkins (AH), Anne de Stecher.
The record was revised by Cara Krmpotich on January 30, 2024. The images were removed, respecting Indigenous, GRASAC and Royal Ontario Museum protocols to refrain from sharing images of grave goods.