Tiny Shell Beads

OntarioArch

Sr. Member
Nov 26, 2017
420
1,123
Cayuga County NY
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Found among Old Timer's collection with no provenance, I assume these are shell....but could they be bone? What delicate workmanship!

bone beads.jpg


Picture of bone beads shown below is from Larson1951 several years ago.
Larson1051.JPG
 

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The Grim Reaper

Gold Member
Apr 3, 2008
7,805
7,063
Southern Ohio
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I'd have to see them in person to say for sure but they look like small sections of cut and snapped bird bone. I have really small ones like that from Ft Ancient sites. There may be a few Shell Discs in there too. The big one at the top looks like Shell.
 

dirstscratcher

Full Member
Mar 8, 2019
197
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N.C. Ohio
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The ones with irregular shaped holes appear to be bone, but they have an odd appearance either from being burned and partially ossified, or possibly buried in something that formed the white coating. If they were burned, they will be extremely fragile. Still. a nice representation of beads.
 

joshuaream

Silver Member
Jun 25, 2009
3,170
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Florida & Hong Kong
I'd have to see them in person to say for sure but they look like small sections of cut and snapped bird bone. I have really small ones like that from Ft Ancient sites. There may be a few Shell Discs in there too. The big one at the top looks like Shell.

I concur with Steve's (and others) observation. Scored & cut bone.
 

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