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Paper 2
Dating the Chickasaw Beads
Home
Glass Trade Beads
Interviews
Database Fields: Artifacts
Database Fields: Glass Beads
Glass Bead Descriptions
Glass Bead Database
Glass Bead Sequence
A Beginning
Major Bead Types/Varieties
Glass Bead Chronology - Start/Finish
Glass Bead Sequence
Major Bead Fields
Glass Bead Sequence
Minor Bead Fields
Glass Bead Sequence
Major & Minor Glass Bead Fields
Glass Bead Chronology
An End, A Beginning
Glass Bead Chronology
Dating
Other Artifacts - Dating
Beads as Heirlooms
Bead Dating Conclusions
Other Factors
Appreciation
Paper 2 Figures
Paper 2 Tables
Paper 2 References
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The database fields contain not only records relative to glass trade beads, but also other associated feature artifacts. The database includes four records for shell artifacts, including discs, beads, pins and wampum. The decision to associate shell artifacts with the glass beads may provide comparison to other late seventeenth and/or early eighteenth century sites in the southeastern United States.
Shell discs may be described as relatively flat flans with rounded or sub-rounded surfaces which have at least one hole running perpendicular (most have a single hole) to the flat surfaces. Most of these discs were made from conch shells, which had been rubbed smooth. The disc average is 30-50 mm in maximum measurement on the flat side; some are smaller than and others are larger than 80mm. The flan widths typically are 2 to 3 mm. All surfaces were polished smooth with the outside edges rounded. Small glass beads normally filled the holes. Some of these discs have edge marking and/or flan marks. Although Armoral Phase gorgets have been found in the Old Fields of the Chickasaw, none were present with the features herein, but several were in the collections from the same sites as the recorded features.
Shell beads include two types - conch and dentalium, with the conch dominating. The shell bead is distinguished from the disc in that the length, parallel drilled axis, is much longer than the width, which is perpendicular to the drilled axis. The dentalium-beads, found in three features, normally exceed 20 mm in length while the conch beads normally exceed 50mm in length. The ends of conch and dentalium were ground and the outside surfaces typically polished. Most of these beads exhibit a single, centered hole in cross-section.
Shell wampum represents uniformly sized small cylinder beads which were probably European manufactured. Most are a polished shell tube that may be 2mm in diameter with lengths of about 4 to 6mm. A single, centered hole perforates the length of the bead. Wampum trade included belts or strings of beads. The literature describes wampum as either white or purple (SCIA 1752 253).
Produced from the columella of the conch shell, the shell (ear) pins normally exhibit a bulbous top that tapers down a shaft to a rounded, if not pointed, terminus. The ear pins were typically found in pairs of near equal lengths. Lengths vary from 25 to 200mm with most 60-70 mm. The shell pins inspected were not holed although the bulb sometimes had whorls from the conch evident.
Another ornament recorded in the database is the brass circular gorget. Brass gorgets appear to be a widely distributed ornamentation in the southeastern United States. Brass circular gorgets may have a mid to late 17th century context. Normally these gorgets are 160 to 220 mm in diameter, flat with a single hole. One of the gorgets had been cut into arm/wrist bands.
Major, datable silver ornaments were noted in the database records. These objects, including crosses, gorgets, brooches, armbands, crowns and wristbands, are datable by hallmarks. The silver ornaments include a few objects with English origins from the 1760s and a few with American origins dating to the 1790s and later; most of the ornaments are Canadian in origin from the late 1770s and 1780s. Spanish real coins (most denominations are of one or two real) bearing Mexico City mints were included in this record with dates ranging from the late 1760s to the early 1790s.
Village zone locations were recorded on the database for each feature. The zone locations, distributed over the village areas, indicate the relative location of the feature. This information will be used in Paper 3.
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