What was a Native American gorget used for?

Like their European counterparts, gorgets were worn by early Chickasaws as a symbol of rank and status. Different gorgets were worn for different events. For everyday attire, simple gourd or stone gorgets were worn. For special occasions or religious ceremonies, a person would wear their finest regalia.

What were Bannerstones used for?

Bannerstone…

C. Bannerstones are weights for spear-throwers, the long shafts that propelled the actual darts, thus extending the thrower’s reach. In use in North America for some 3,000 years beginning in the fourth millennium B.C., bannerstones took many and varied forms.

What is a gorget Archaeology?

In archaeology, the term gorget has been used to describe a wide range of different types of cut, ground and polished objects that were drilled with two or more holes. In the dictionary gorgets are defined as armor used to protect the throat or neck.

How was the Mississippian gorget made?

The shell that the gorget is made from is a whelk – a type of sea snail – that probably came from the Gulf of Mexico. It would require long-distance trade to bring the shells from the Gulf to the Mississippian towns where the gorgets were made.

Who usually wore a gorget?

military officers
For almost two centuries, from about 1650 to 1830, they were worn by military officers as ornaments of authority and not as protective armor. During this period the gorget was suspended around the neck by a chain or ribbon. Gorgets and printed testimonials were among the items given to Indian allies.

What form does a gorget take?

Gradually the gorget became smaller and more symbolic, and became a single crescent shape worn on a chain, which became increasingly longer so that the gorget no longer protected the throat in normal wear. The Japanese (samurai) form of the gorget is known as a nodowa.

What is a gorget stone?

A gorget is a decorative or protective polished stone piece, worn around the throat or chest. ( Photo enhanced)

What does a Bannerstone look like?

Bannerstones are artifacts usually found in the Eastern United States that are characterized by a centered hole in a symmetrically shaped carved or ground stone. The holes are typically 1⁄4″ to 3⁄4″ in diameter and extend through a raised portion centered in the stone.

What is a humpback gorget?

Humped gorgets are rare artifacts which probably date to the Glacial Kame culture of 4,000 years before present. Many humped gorgets are made of banded slate, but raw materials also in- clude dense black slate, quartzite, and siltstone.

Who usually wore a gorget and why?

For almost two centuries, from about 1650 to 1830, they were worn by military officers as ornaments of authority and not as protective armor. During this period the gorget was suspended around the neck by a chain or ribbon. Gorgets and printed testimonials were among the items given to Indian allies.

What is a plummet stone?

Plummets, or weights, were used to sink a fishing net in the water to catch fish. Native men from southern New England often made the tools with which they worked, including their own hemp nets.

What is a pecking stone?

A unique enrichment tool designed specifically to prevent and reduce abnormal pecking behavior—superior to other poultry pecking blocks! Provides an effective chicken pecking block target—redirects aggressive pecking behavior to prevent poultry cannibalism.

Where do gorgets come from?

As Mississippian shell gorgets were traded widely, common designs have a widespread geographical distribution. Calusa people of southern Florida harvested and carved gorgets. Coiled rattlesnakes gorgets were found among the Guale Indians of Georgia.

What is a gorget pendant?

Engraved and fenestrated shell gorget from Spiro Mounds, ancestral Caddo or Wichita. Shell gorgets are a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck.

What are shell gorgets and how are they made?

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 (pierced with openings). Shell gorgets were most common in Eastern Woodlands of the United States,…

How was the gorget worn?

This specimen was worn tight against the neck as evidenced by the extremely smooth surfaces along the top and bottom lateral edges. There is also wear in the holes from the knots in the rawhide leather used to hold the gorget in place.