Shell Gorget, Incised
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1877
name: label: Donor Name
content: C F. Williams
notes: label: Notes
content: INCISED WTH WOODPECKER AND CROSS MOTIFS. "Cox" type.
label: Notes
content: From card: "Nov. 1977 - Motif engraved on convex side of shell is cross within sun circle surrounded by the looped square, with 4 bird heads; cited by W.H. Holmes "Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans" BAE Ann. Rep. Vol. 2, 1880-81, Pl. LVIII, pp. 280-286. - J. Gardner, B. Smith. Illus.: Brose, David S. 1985. Ancient Art of the American Woodland Indians; Fig. 15, p. 109. Identified there as "gorget showing litter motif, woodpecker heads, and circle-and-cross motif; marine shell."
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 98, lower left, p. 99 in Krech, Shepard. 2009. Spirits of the air: birds & American Indians in the South. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Identified there as shell gorget representing crested woodpeckers (presumably the ivory-billed), probably Tennessee or northern Alabama, Mississippian. The woodpeckers are often arranged [on such objects], bills pointed counterclockwise, at what seem to be cardinal points in a sacred geography surrounding a central sun or fire.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 10 Nov 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Unknown County, Mississippi, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Prehistoric
label: Culture
content: Mississippian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 77A00088
label: USNM Number
content: A30201-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Gorget