Wampum as a Money in Northeastern North America
1956; Duke University Press; Volume: 3; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/480499
ISSN1527-5477
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Literary Studies
ResumoAmerica, were known to and in use by most of the tribes of the area before contact; however, significant changes occurred in the quantities of beads available, and the uses to which they were put as a result of European intervention. The nature of this development, with particular emphasis on the use of wampum as money, will be the concern of the present paper. 1. Manufacture of Wampum. Wampum of the prehistoric period was both disc shaped and tubular as has recently been demonstrated by Slotkin and Schmitt.1 In the historic period it was usually tubular and made from the round clam (quahog, Venus mercenaria) or spiral shaped shells commonly called coccles or periwinkles (especially Sycotypus canaliculatus and Fulgur carica).2 The former shell is found abundantly along the eastern coast as far north as Cape Cod, but is scarce between there and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.3 On the Atlantic coast, from Virginia north to New France, two colors of wampum were known; white, which was the more common and less valuable, and black (sometimes called purple or red). The darker and more valuable variety when genuine was made from the dark portion of the clam shell, natural factors of the material therefore accounting for its relative scarcity. Some attempts to produce counterfeit purple wampum by dyeing the white occurred, with what success and to what extent, however, is not known4
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