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The Value of Wampum among the New York Iroquois: A Case Study in Artifact Analysis

1982; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 38; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/jar.38.1.3629950

2153-3806

Lynn Ceci,

Archaeology and Natural History

The archeological and documentary evidence for wampum permits the reconstruction of an economic system linking three early historic cultures in the Northeast: Algonquian, colonial, and Iroquois. While the roles of the first two cultures can be outlined, the basis for Iroquois participation, i.e., their desire for wampum, is incompletely understood. Using sources from archeology, history, ethnohistory, ethnography, economics, and anthropological theory, ten cultural factors are presented which explain the high esteem given wampum by the Iroquois. The last and most complex argument ties mythological accounts of wampum's origins to social, economic, political, and ideational process, that is, to the evolution of the Iroquois League. The study represents a multidisciplinary approach to artifact analysis, and is a case study of the role of shell beads in culture change.