Lucky Kentucky Shell beads

[PaDirtDigger]

I just saw some killer postings on here and they reminded me to post another cool find from my Kentucky trip this year. Of course the title gives it away, but I'll give a brief story to go along, I might send in a story for a one page article in Central States magazine...
Anyway...
My friend in Kentucky has a lot of property and permission on other property to look for artifacts. He had cleared off a small patch where he was finding a bunch of small points, going to reveal more. He got some and then needed to go tend to a call about home repair. I went to the area to see what I could come up with and I find a few flint items and then a shell. Very soon after and found a few clustered together where he skimmed the dirt, I picked them up too and looked to where he pushed the dirt and I found more! I really didn't think too much about them, but I was curious enough to keep them and I'm glad that I did. When I got back to his place, I washed them up and noticed that every one of them were drilled on the ends and I started to realize what I possibly just found.
I got 16 in total and they were found directly together roughly 12" below ground level. I wish I took pictures of them in the dirt, but I really had no idea what they actually were. I 'restrung' them, assuming of course that they were a necklace (since they were found as a 'cache')... And now they are in a much safer place than how they were discovered.
Hope you all enjoy and please provide any information that you may have to share!! This is a first for me and another banner type find for me... Nothing like this where I live in Pa.

 

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[willjo]

Find of a lifetime.

 

[welsbury]

Cool find. Are you sure you found all of them? Little screening might be in order.

 

[Tnmountains]

Very nice olivella or marginalia shell beads. I get them mixed up. They were highly prized items and a sign of trade. As Welsbury said there might be thousands. I have found a few in this area.

 

[PaDirtDigger]

Thanks for the replies so far fellas...
I thought that this might finally slide in a few banner votes myself! And if anyone missed an earlier thread of mine, i found a good portion of a cumberland point this year too... It'll be a tough year to beat really.

I do have my friend checking on that spot after some rains, i cant get back there too quickly since im so far away!

Im not sure how much would/could be left, but if i/we ever come up with more, i will definitely update this thread.
Tnmountains, if you have pictures or want to take pictures of the ones you have, please feel free to post them here! I would love to see them!!

 

[austin]

Sort of a pre Columbian Tiffany's. Welbury is right. The area needs screening. Probably more there...

 

[Mrdigz]

Wow Thats a great find! I agree about screening the area. It Seems like a lot of work but it's worth it in the end.

 

[PaDirtDigger]

I'm used to screening dirt, so I do not mind that at all. Found a bunch of points yesterday here in Pa screening dirt actually! It was a very good day after work yesterday!

 

[Tnmountains]

Im not sure how much would/could be left, but if i/we ever come up with more, i will definitely update this thread.
Tnmountains, if you have pictures or want to take pictures of the ones you have, please feel free to post them here! I would love to see them!!

Here ya go!

 

[PaDirtDigger]

Wow, those are cool. They are much smaller than the ones I found. I'd say they are a third or a fourth of the size...But the sane otherwise!

 

[monsterrack]

A super find and I would be working that spot as much as I could.

 

[DigIron2]

very neat Pa...Where probably a very prized possession of someone's. Looks like you found the whole strand of them too. very cool. Always have my eyes open for beads and stuff like that, no success yet.

 

[PaDirtDigger]

I found another bead on my trip this year. This was in Indiana. It's a blue glass Dutch wire wrap trade bead, circa 1680-1740... I only know that because that's what I was told by one person. Here's a picture or two...

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Awesome find. I love Beads and have found quite a few over the past 30+ since I found my first one ever.

The first two pictures are all from the same site in Butler county Ohio. Also much smaller than yours.

I do have some large ones from Missouri that are in the 3rd picture.

 

[PaDirtDigger]

Nice stuff!!

Thanks for taking the time to post those pictures too. The larger ones you have look identical to what I found, that's so cool!!

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Here's a few more pictures of some of my Beads.

The first picture is a tray of Bone and Shell Beads from several different locales. The two on the left and right on the bottom are both from Smythe county Va. The middle one on the bottom and the long Shell Tube Bead above are from a local Ft Ancient site called the Goldcamp Site. The two Bone Bead ones in the top left and right are from Hardin Village which is another local site. The larger one, and the close up in pic #2, is from Spiro Mound.

The next 7 pictures are all local sites and all personal finds. Goldcamp Site, Hardin Site, and the Fuert Site. You can probably Google all three and find info.

The last two pictures are both from California. The Shell Necklace has 203 Beads on it and was a gift i received a few weeks ago.

 

[PaDirtDigger]

Jaw dropping pictures Grim... You have things layed out really nice!!! Thank you for sharing those pictures...

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Like I said, I love Beads and I also enjoy showing them. Thanks for the kind words.