page_title: Shell gorget
section_title: Materials and techniques
hierarchical_section_title: Shell gorget / Materials and techniques
caption_attribution_description: Sinistrofulgur perversum (Linnaeus, 1758)&#160;; Author clmiadfl (Michael Barruel), from Nice, France. This is a shell from my own collecion
context_page_description: Shell gorgets are a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated.
  Shell gorgets were most common in Eastern Woodlands of the United States, during the Hopewell tradition and Mississippian cultural period; however, tribes from other regions and time periods also carved shell gorgets. The earliest shell gorgets date back to 3000 years BP. They are believed to have been insignia of status or rank, either civic, military, or religious, or amulets of protective medicine. Due to the placement of the holes in the gorgets, they are also thought to be spinners that could produce whistling sounds.
context_section_description: Lightning whelk (Sinistrofulgur perversum) is the most common shell used for gorgets. Other shells, such as the true conch or Strombus, as well as freshwater mussels, are also carved into gorgets. Today, due to environmental causes, harvested lightning whelks are significantly smaller than in precontact times. These earlier shells typically ranged from 6 to 12 inches in length.
  Harvested off the coasts of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, the shells were traded through the Eastern Woodlands. This native trade continued into the 16th century.
  Gorgets are carved from the penultimate whorl of the shell. A blank is cut or broken out, then ground smooth. Holes for suspension and decoration are drilled, sometimes with a bow drills or chert drills. The gorget forms a concave shape and, when engraved, the interior is polished and decorated.
  While most gorgets are circular, some are shaped as rectangles with rounded corners, maskettes, or other novel shapes. An extremely elaborate pendant from Spiro Mounds is shaped as two hands connected by a common beaded bracelet.
caption: Views of a Sinistrofulgur perversum shell
exif: {}