
Museum number
Am1931,-.12
Description
Full: Front
Wampum belt, with a white ground, and two parallel zig-zag lines of purple wampum, three beads in width. Most of the length of the belt is 16 beads wide; however at one end, 12 beads in from the end, the number of skin warps is reduced from 17 to 15. At this point one of the purple lines is reduced in width from three to two beads. The skin warps form fringes at both ends; the end with the reduced number of warps also has attached an oval skin zoomorphic feature, with a tail and four limbs indicated by skin tabs holding thin white discoidal shell beads. The other end seems to finish with the full 17 skin warps; but abrasions to these warps suggest the shadows of wefts, now missing with the beads from that end section. There may also be weft shadows on the warp-fringe at the end with the zoomorphic feature. The purple zig-zag lines touch the top edge of the belt 7 times, and the bottom 8 times. The belt is c 170 beads long. One or two beads are missing.
© The Trustees of the British Museum