wampum, white and purple shell; twine, nettle; leather thong

This loom woven belt has eight rows of warp threads and seven rows of beads. The twine is made of two strands, twisted together. The threads on the longer end are tied together with a leather thong -- on the shorter end, they are tied off in the usual manner of tying two warp threads together. CW noted the beads are of uneven sizes. She also observed that the warps are of different lengths on either end-- one side is 5cm, and the other is roughly 8cm.

Three diamond shapes in white wampum and a single row in the centre, one bead wide, in white wampum.

Horatio Hale called this belt "The Peace Path Belt." According to Horatio Hale, the diamond shapes could represent council fires and the single row could possibly symbolize the peace path.

This belt is physically smaller than 1896.7.7. The beads were made in factories. They were mass produced, but not from the fur trade. RP mentioned there is a thesis about wampum bead-making that may help us learn about tools.

The Pitt Rivers Museum object catalogue lists "1637?" as the date of creation. It also states that belt probably relates to a treaty between the Huron Confederacy and the Tobacco (Tionontate) Nation in 1637.

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).

Hale, Horatio. "Four Huron Wampum Records: A Study of Aboriginal American History and Mnemonic," Journal of the Anthropological Institute XXVI (1897): 221. Tylor, E.B. "The Hale Series of Huron Wampum Belts (Notes and Addenda)," Journal of the Anthropological Institute XXVI (1897): 248.

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).