Native American, Southern United States, Tennessee, Davidson County, Eastern Woodland, Mississippian Caddo culture, ca. 900 to 1400 CE. This is a fascinating and large whelk shell tool with a carved surface to facilitate use as a drill or awl with suspension holes drilled into the side. The shell's surface has been smoothed and polished and the spines upon the spiral are rounded nubs, ideal for gripping and the interior column is sharpened fur use as a pick or chisel. Shells were important items for use as tools and adornments as they had symbolic meaning depending on their spirals that follow either a sinistral (clockwise) or a dextral (counterclockwise) orientation, such as this shell. They signified the cosmological progress of birth to death and the reverse path towards life and renewal. Size: 8" L x 2.5" W (20.3 cm x 6.4 cm)
Provenance: private Kansas City, Missouri, USA collection; ex-John Townsend collection, formed in the 1970s and earlier
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#161650
Condition
Restoration with new material on the body whorl. Heavy mineral deposits across most of surface. Old losses and chips that have smoothed over with age. Old inventory numbers on column tip.