With all of our summer travel, it's been hard to find time to create new weekly artifact features - for that we apologize! The office is also busy analyzing artifact from the Dixon site (Woodbury County) excavations. Cherie Haury-Artz is analyzing the faunal remains and artifacts, and came across this amazing shell bead!
This large shell bead was recovered from a trash-filled pit feature at the Dixon site during the 2017 excavations. It is an elongated oval shape, 2.5 cm long and 1.16 cm wide, and has a thin line incised around the perimeter at each end (top image). The pearly luster of the shell must have made it a lovely ornament. As sad as the owner may have been when it broke in half, the resulting cross-section provides archaeologists clues about how it was made. It was made from a thick, solid piece of a freshwater mussel shell, probably obtained locally. The circular marks of a drill are visible on the interior surface near both openings (bottom image). The hour-glass shape of the interior channel indicates that it was drilled from both ends.
