# Shell gorget > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Shell_gorget > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Shell_gorget.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_gorget > Source revision: 1324190945 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Form of Native American art}} [[File:Craig style shell gorget Spiro Raccoon dancers HRoe 2012.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Engraved and fenestrated shell gorget from [Spiro Mounds](/source/Spiro_Mounds), ancestral [Caddo](/source/Caddo) or [Wichita](/source/Wichita_tribe)]] '''Shell gorgets''' are a [Native American](/source/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) art form of polished, carved [shell](/source/mollusc_shell) [pendant](/source/pendant)s worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated (pierced with openings). {{Mound Builders}} Shell gorgets were most common in [Eastern Woodlands](/source/Eastern_Woodlands) of the [United States](/source/United_States), during the [Hopewell tradition](/source/Hopewell_tradition) (200 BCE – 500 CE) and [Mississippian cultural period](/source/Mississippian_culture) (c. 800–1500 CE); however, tribes from other regions and time periods also carved shell gorgets. The earliest shell gorgets date back to 3000 years [BP](/source/Before_present). They are believed to have been insignia of status or rank,C. Andrew Buchner, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=325 "Cox Mound Gorget."] ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture.'' (retrieved 23 July 2010) either civic, military, or religious, or amulets of protective medicine. Due to the placement of the holes in the gorgets, they are also thought to be [spinners](/source/Bullroarer_(music)) that could produce whistling sounds.Dozier, Debye. [http://daphne.palomar.edu/ddozier/course_notes/regions/woodland_files/woodlands.htm "Northern, Eastern, and Southern Woodlands."] ''Palomar College, American Indian Department.'' 16 June 2005 (retrieved 6 Feb 2011) ==Materials and techniques== thumb|left|Views of a ''Sinistrofulgur perversum'' shell Lightning whelk (''[Sinistrofulgur perversum](/source/Sinistrofulgur_perversum)'') is the most common shell used for gorgets. Other shells, such as the true conch or ''[Strombus](/source/Strombus)'', as well as [freshwater mussel](/source/freshwater_mussel)s, are also carved into gorgets.Dreiss, Meredith L. [http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/coast/nature/images/shell-ornaments.html "Marine Shell Ornaments, Icons and Offerings."] ''Texas Beyond History.'' (retrieved 24 July 2010) Today, due to environmental causes, harvested lightning whelks are significantly smaller than in precontact times. These earlier shells typically ranged from {{Convert|6 to 12|in|cm}} in length. Harvested off the coasts of Florida and the [Gulf of Mexico](/source/Gulf_of_Mexico), the shells were traded through the Eastern Woodlands.Dubin, 154 This native trade continued into the 16th century.Dubin, 163 Gorgets are carved from the penultimate [whorl](/source/whorl_(mollusc)) of the shell.Fundaburk and Foreman, Pl. 155-6 A blank is cut or broken out, then ground smooth. Holes for suspension and decoration are drilled, sometimes with a bow drills or [chert](/source/chert) drills. The gorget forms a concave shape and, when engraved, the interior is polished and decorated. While most gorgets are circular, some are shaped as rectangles with rounded corners, maskettes, or other novel shapes. An extremely elaborate pendant from [Spiro Mounds](/source/Spiro_Mounds) is shaped as two hands connected by a common beaded bracelet.Dubin 162 ==Archaic and Hopewell== [Adena](/source/Adena_culture) cultures created gorgets from slate and copper, but the [Hopewell Exchange System](/source/Hopewell_Exchange_System) brought exotic shells from the Gulf northward. Initially, Hopewellian peoples carved plain shell gorgets around 1000 BCE. Engraved gorgets appeared in the late Hopewell.Dubin 159 A [Glacial Kame culture](/source/Glacial_Kame_culture) marine-shell gorget from the [Great Lakes](/source/Great_Lakes) dates from 1000 BCE and features an engraved bear or opossum with an umbilical cord.Dubin, 156 ==Mississippian== [[File:Buffalo style mask gorget Nodena site HRoe 2006.jpg|thumb|Mask gorget with forked-eye motifs, from the [Nodena site](/source/Nodena_site) in [Arkansas](/source/Arkansas)]] As Mississippian shell gorgets were traded widely, common designs have a widespread geographical distribution. [Calusa](/source/Calusa) people of southern Florida harvested and carved gorgets.Dubin, 202 Coiled rattlesnakes gorgets were found among the [Guale](/source/Guale) Indians of [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(U.S._State)).Dubin, 200 Mask gorgets, although rare,Smith and Smith were only able to secure and examine 69 masks in their 1989 study. are found throughout the southeast, with the most prominent site clusters occurring in the Ohio River valley, eastern Tennessee, and the Arkansas delta, although finds have been found as far afield as North Dakota.Smith and Smith, table 1 The masks have bas-relief noses, drilled eyes, engraved or drill mouths, and sometimes forked-eye motifs or zigzags under the eyes. Small shell [cameos](/source/cameo_(carving)), under two inches wide, were found at Spiro Mounds.Fundaburk and Foreman, Plates 157 and 158 Although dating is difficult in the current archaeological context, these masks are likely to be a later phenomenon (c. 1500–1700): although they are often found in sites that also produce 16th century Spanish trade goods, they are entirely absent from classic mound sites, which were active until the fourteenth century.Smith and Smith, 9 ===Iconography=== thumb|left|Contemporary miniature gorget by Dan Townsend, featuring a cross-in-circle motif Iconography on the shell gorgets comes from the [Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere](/source/Mississippian_Ideological_Interaction_Sphere). Extremely common designs include the [triskele](/source/triskele), coiled rattlesnake, spider, [chunkey](/source/chunkey) player, and birdman, sometimes called a Falcon Impersonater. Native Americans, art historians, and anthropologists all have a wide range of often conflicting interpretations of the Mississippian iconography. Coiled rattlesnake gorgets were often found in the graves of young people and are believed to relate to age as opposed to status.Dubin 161 The forked-eye motif, commonly identified as markings from a [peregrine falcon](/source/peregrine_falcon), dates back to the [Hopewell exchange](/source/Hopewell_exchange), and the symbol references excellent vision and hunting skill among [Muscogee Creek](/source/Muscogee_Creek) people. "Strength of Life" design is interpreted by Kvokovtee Scott and Phillip Deer (Muscogee medicine man) as referencing a whirlwind and [dancing movement](/source/stomp_dance). There are over 30 pre-contact examples of the Cox Mound gorget style, found in [Tennessee](/source/Tennessee) and northern [Alabama](/source/Alabama) and dating from 1250 to 1450 CE. The Cox Mound gorget style features four woodpecker heads facing counter-clockwise, a four-lopped square motif, and a sometimes a cross within a rayed circle. It has been interpreted as a visualization of the [Yuchi](/source/Yuchi) myth of the winds. The four-looped square, or [guilloche](/source/guilloche), is considered by some to be a "whirling sun" motif, or a priestly or chiefly [litter](/source/Litter_(vehicle));Dubin 204 by some, the earth held up by cords to the Sky Vault at the four cardinal points;Townsend and Sharp, 208 and by others, the path of life with four stages of maturity. Woodpeckers are associated with the four winds and are medicine birds that can extract illnesses among Muscogee Creeks. The birds are also sometimes interpreted as the four winds. The rayed circle or sun is interpreted literally, a deity or ancestors, council, and/or sacred fire. The entire design could also illustrate the [Yuchi](/source/Yuchi) myth of the winds. thumb|''Cox style'' gorget A gorget from the [Castalian Springs Mound Site](/source/Castalian_Springs_Mound_Site) in Tennessee features a man holding a mace and severed head. This has been interpreted by some anthropologists as a "flying shaman."Dubin, 196 Some agreement can be found in interpreting the cross-in-circle design, which references the sun and the ceremonial fire, fed by four logs aligned to cardinal directions. Another design widely agreed upon is the water spider with a cross-in-circle design on its [cephalothorax](/source/cephalothorax). Spider gorgets have a widespread distribution but are commonly found in what is now [Illinois](/source/Illinois). ==Historic gorgets== [[File:Bennie pokemire gorget.jpg|thumb|Contemporary gorget by Bennie Pokemire ([Eastern Band Cherokee](/source/Eastern_Band_Cherokee)), featuring a Mississippian warrior with a forked eye motif]] Turtle shells and stones have also infrequently been carved into gorgets. In the 18th century, metal medallions replaced shell gorgets among Eastern tribes.Power (2007), 214 In the late 19th century, women from tribes along the [Colorado River](/source/Colorado_River), such as the [Quechan](/source/Quechan) wore fenestrated gorgets made from bivalve shells and strung on vegetal cordage. ==Contemporary== Shell carving is experiencing a revival among Southeastern tribes today. Knokovtee Scott (Cherokee Nation/Muscogee, 1951–2019) studied under tribal historians, traditionalists, and medicine men.[https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/news/cherokee-national-treasure-knokovtee-scott-dies/article_85146526-c631-58ba-807f-23640e4c4b0c.html Cherokee National Treasure Knokovtee Scott dies ] Scott carved gorgets with purple freshwater mussel shell harvested from near [Fort Sill, Oklahoma](/source/Fort_Sill%2C_Oklahoma). [Sandy Fife Wilson](/source/Sandy_Fife_Wilson) (Muscogee) of Oklahoma carves shell gorgets and whelk shell cups,[https://dc.library.okstate.edu/digital/collection/ona/id/333/ Oral history interview with Sandy Fife Wilson], OSU Digital Connections as does Antonio Grant (Eastern Band Cherokee) of North Carolina.[https://www.abbemuseum.org/attending-artists-profiles/antonio-grant Antonio Grant], Abbe Museum: 2021 AMIM Artists. ==See also== * [Long-nosed god maskette](/source/Long-nosed_god_maskette) ==Notes== {{reflist|2}} ==References== * {{cite book|author=Dubin, Lois Sherr| title=North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present| location= New York| publisher=Harry N. Abrams | year=1999 |isbn= 978-0-8109-3689-8}} * {{cite book| author1=Fundaburk, Emma Lila | author2= Foreman, Mary Douglass Fundaburk |title= Sun Circles and Human Hands: the Southeastern Indians - Art and Industry| location=Tuscaloosa| publisher= University of Alabama Press|year= 2001 |orig-year=1957| isbn= 978-0-8173-1077-6}} * {{cite book| author=Power, Susan C. | title=Art of the Cherokee: Prehistory to the Present| location=Athens |publisher=University of Georgia Press| year= 2007 | isbn= 978-0-8203-2767-9| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZPVEos7PKIgC&q=Dan+Townsend+%28Muscogee+Creek-Cherokee%29&pg=PA214}} * {{cite journal|last=Smith|first=Martin T.|author2=Julie Barnes Smith |title=Engraved Shell Masks in North America|journal=Southeastern Archaeology|date=Summer 1989|volume=8|issue=1|page=9}} * {{cite book|editor=Townsend, Richard F.| editor2= Sharp, Robert V. |title=Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South| location= New Haven| publisher= Yale University Press|year= 2004 |isbn= 978-0-300-10601-5}} ==Further reading== * Phillips, Phillip and James A. Brown. ''Pre-Columbian Shell Engravings from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma, Parts 1 and 2.'' Cambridge: Peabody Museum Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-87365-795-2}} and {{ISBN|978-0-87365-802-7}}. ==External links== {{commons category|Shell gorgets}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110705193726/http://66.195.173.140/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=173 Archaic shell gorgets], Virtual First Ohioans * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100610052047/http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/permanent/native/mississippian.shtml Archaeology & the Native Peoples of Tennessee], Frank H. McClung Museum * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120324223809/http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/research/renotes/rn-19txt.htm Dates for Shell Gorgets and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in the Chickamauga Basin of Southeastern Tennessee] [Lynne P. Sullivan](/source/Lynne_P._Sullivan) * {{cite journal|url= http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/archaeology/MASgorgetarticle.shtml | title= The Jaguar Gorget—"The Missouri State Artifact"|author= Wood, W. Raymond Wood |journal= Missouri Archaeological Society Quarterly |date= April–June 2000| volume= 17| issue=2| pages=8–11}} * {{cite web|url= http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/fairfieldMound.html | title= The Jaguar Gorget—Fairfield Mounds 23BE6|author= Fuller, Michael }} {{Mississippian and related cultures}} {{Pre-Columbian North America}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Shell Gorget}} Category:Indigenous culture of the Northeastern Woodlands Category:Indigenous culture of the Southeastern Woodlands Category:Native American jewelry Category:Mollusc products Category:Necklaces Category:Seashells in art --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Shell gorget](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_gorget) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_gorget?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.