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Native American, Southern United States, Alabama, Elmore County, Muscogee / Creek tribe, Atasi people, ca. 19th century CE. A lovely collection of glass trade beads made by Europeans to trade with the Native American tribes in the Southern part of the United States. This strand is comprised of over 200 blue glass seed beads that are strung on a modern thread, enough to wear wrapped as two strands! These beads are perfect to restring as a wearable necklace to use as accents or on their own! All were collected from a village site with documented Spanish contact that existed from the 1500s through 1814. The village was destroyed in April 1814 during the Creek uprisings but was later reoccupied, and these beads likely date to one of the post 1814 occupations. Size (strand doubled): 48" L (121.9 cm); (average bead): 0.13" Diameter (0.3 cm)

Atasi - also spelled Otasse, Atusse, Auttossee - were a branch of the Creek / Muscogee tribes along the Tallapoosa River from about 1560 to 1813 CE and moved periodically due to soil and river conditions. On November 29th, 1813, the Atasi people joined in the Creek War (Red Stick War) and in 1814 they refused to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, and many migrated to Florida and joined the Seminole Nation. After the First Seminole War in 1818, Creek and Seminole peoples, displaced by war and American settlers, returned to their homelands in Alabama. Between the early 1800s and the 1832 Treaty of Cusseta, the Creek nation had lost most of their land to white settlers through laws, pressures, violence, and treaties. The Treaty of Cusseta ceded all of Creek land east of the Mississippi to the United States, with meager land claims granted to individual Creeks. Conflicts between white settlers and remaining Creek landowners intensified, and in 1835 the US government forcibly relocated most of the remaining Creeks to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The Atasi sites along the Tallapoosa and Saguache rivers were demolished by quarries and other modern developments. These beads are likely possessions that were left behind during the sad Trail of Tears march.

Provenance: ex-private Ashland, Ohio, USA collection; ex-Peter Brandon collection, Montgomery, Alabama, USA

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

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Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.

#167510

Nicks and abrasions to beads. Light mineral deposits. All are strung on a thread, and we recommend restringing these beads to make them more secure if you intend to wear as a necklace.