Dentalium Belt
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: PEALE DESCRIPTION: "BELTS MADE OF SHELLS (DENTALIUM) USED AS CURRENCY BY THE NATIVES OF THE NORTH WEST COAST OF AMERICA. PRESENTED BY THE OFFICERS OF THE HON. H.B. [Hudson's Bay] COMPANY."
label: Notes
content: Old 19th century or early 20th century exhibit label with card: "Belt - Dentalium indianorum strung on eight strings, which are held together in a band by being rove through strips of buckskin at intervals of each length of the shells. Indians of Northwest Coast. Length 3 ft. 8 ins. Width, 2 1/4 ins. N.W. Coast of N. America, 1841."
label: Notes
content: Illus. p. 234 and described p. 234 and p. 381 in Gilman, Carolyn. 2003. Lewis and Clark across the divide. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. Identified there as likely acquired by U.S. Exploring Expedition at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.
label: Notes
content: Belt made of dentalium shells strung together on natural fiber cord with leather spacers between the 27 sections.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 14 Apr 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Northwest Coast, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E2706-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Belt
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 124 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 3.5 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 0.4 cm