Waupum
by Kathy Barney
Title
Waupum
Artist
Kathy Barney
Medium
Photograph - Photography-digital Art
Description
The purple part of the clam is the part scraped out to make wampum; the stones were used as trade, as well. Usually the shells were made into necklaces or such. "Wampum are traditional shell beads of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of the indigenous people of North America. Wampum include the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell; and the white and purple beads made from the quahog, or Western North Atlantic hard-shelled clam. Wampum were used as money,[1] and were kept on strings like Chinese cash. Strings of wampum were also used instead of writing, and were created to record treaties or historical events. European colonists used wampum for trading with Native Americans, and adopted it as their own currency. However, the Europeans' greater access to shell sources and capital led to the overproduction of wampum, causing inflation and ultimately the obsolescence of wampum as currency. The slang phrases "clams" and "shelling out" come from wampum." ~WIKIPEDIA
Uploaded
March 6th, 2014
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