The First Money
by Marcia Lee Jones
Title
The First Money
Artist
Marcia Lee Jones
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
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.
Wampum is used to mark exchanges for engagement, marriage, and betrothal agreements, as well as for ceremony and condolence ceremonies. In earlier centuries, Lenape girls would wear wampum to show their eligibility for marriage. After marriage had been arranged, a Lenape suitor would give his fianc� and her family gifts of wampum.
Uploaded
February 12th, 2014
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