Engraved Conch Shell Dipper - Bird Figures
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1958
name: label: Donor Name
content: Harry M. Trowbridge
label: Site Name
content: Craig Mound
notes: label: Notes
content: Original Catalog Number: 2637 Style: Braden C Raw Material 2: Busycon sinistrum Element: Complete Alteration: Weathered Manufacturing Notes: 2 drilled holes in apex. large poorly executed incising, much never filed w/colorant (which is why someone took a pencil to it). Design: Court card symmetry Surface Modification: Incised Symbols: Mace, ogee, bird heads and tails, zig-zags, forked eye. Residue: Small bit sediment w/ possible ash or shell residue inside. Parts of design have been penciled over so have graphite residue in them. Use Trace: Large hole in left center face. Comments: Phillips & Brown 1978, Pl. 121 (Pre-Columbian Shell Engravings from Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma. Vols. I-III) remark how unusual to find maces and birds appearing together. While analyzing this shell I picked it up and accidentally squashed a Drosophila fly which had perched on the inner surface along the right edge in the center of the shell's length. I removed its carcass, but there could be residual fly residue.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 1 Oct 2015
label: Site Number
content: 34LF40
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Spiro, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Prehistoric
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 228126
label: USNM Number
content: A423244-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Dipper
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 28.7 cm
label: Width - Object
content: ca. 17.8 cm
label: Thickness - Object
content: ca. 21.5 cm
label: Weight - Object
content: ca. 801.9 g
label: Bore Diameter
content: ca. 0.42 cm