Native American, Southern United States, Oklahoma, Leflore Country, Spiro Mound region, Caddo / Mississippian culture, ca. 900 to 1450 CE. An outstanding collection of wearable shell beads hand carved into unusual symmetrical shapes! Great care has been taken to string the beads in modern times on cotton threads to protect the interior drill holes from wear that would otherwise incur on metal wires. The necklace has 109 beads, and the bracelet has 23 beads - all hand carved into elegant barrel shape with flared rims on each side of the spherical body. Whelks and olive shells- sea mollusks used for most Mississippian adornments - came from the Gulf of Mexico and the Californian coast, far from Oklahoma where these pieces were found. Shells were important items for use as jewelry and ritual, their spirals were cosmological symbols of the circle of life- their precious traits increased by the distance traveled- about 1,400 miles (2253 km)! Size (necklace strand doubled): 42" L (106.7 cm); (bracelet): 3.25" Diameter (8.3 cm); (beads): 0.5" L x 0.375" W (1.3 cm x 1 cm)

Provenance: private Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA collection; ex-Dr. David Harner collection, Springdale, Arkansas, USA, acquired between the 1950s and 1960s

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#170582

Chips and nicks to surfaces. Light mineral and earthen encrustations, but otherwise intact and very good. Strung in modern times on cotton cords, and wearable.