EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS: WAMPUM AMONG PLAINS TRIBES

Manufactured primarily along Long Island Sound, these beads, shaped from marine shells, could be made into belts or grouped as strings.1 Though whites failed to grasp the nuances of wampum culture, leading to the generalization of wampum as "Indian money," they nevertheless recognized its significance in Native American trade and diplomacy. "3 Words alone held little meaning or trustworthiness in these cultures, even when they came from a person of high social standing. [...]true' words were always accompanied by presents of symbolically charged or economically valuable items," primarily strings or belts of wampum.4 In these ritual contexts, the beads' color, "specifically white, red, and black, [was] fundamental to the symbolic meaning or cultural ?value' of wampum.