wampum belts
Native American money
Wampum belts are decorative bands woven from small cylindrical beads made from shells, traditionally crafted and used by Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands of North America.
Far more than ornamental, these belts served as records of treaties, agreements, and significant events, with specific patterns and colors encoding meaning that could be read by those who knew the tradition.
The Two Row Wampum belt symbolized the agreement between the Haudenosaunee and Dutch settlers.
- shell beadsDrilled mollusk jewelry components
- beadworkStrung ornament craft
- Iroquois ConfederacyNative American tribal league
- treatiesFormal agreements between states
- quahogHard-shelled edible clam
beads · trade · clan mothers · indigenous · gifts · ancestral lands · Six Nations · oral traditions · woven · covenant · indigenous sovereignty · shells · oral history · ceremonial practices · white · patterns · record · purple
wampum beltspaper money
Currency in bill form
coins · fiat currency · banknotes · gold bullion · silver coins
wampum beltscash
Ready spending funds
pocket change · petty cash · disposable income · loose change · spending money
wampum beltslegal documents
Formal binding written records
parchment scrolls · written records · notarized documents · official correspondence · diplomatic papers