# NEW ! Etowah Mounds Shell gorget.



## backwoodsjoe (Jul 25, 2009)

Just finished this one up. A reproduction of a shell gorget excavated at the Etowah Mounds in Cartersville Georgia in 1956 by Lewis Larson. This one is from a burial in Mound "C".  The artifact is on display at the Etowah Mounds Museum. Eagle/ Human warrior holding a large flint dagger and a sun symbol. It is made from the traditional Lightning Whelk shell from the Gulf of Mexico as was the original artifact. Hope you like it !
I have included a photo of the original shell artifact.


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## Nicodemus (Jul 25, 2009)

I`ve seen photographs of the original, and that one is a dead ringer for it. Very impressive, Steve!! That one has always reminded me of the Aztec society.


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## LJay (Jul 25, 2009)

Yep, I shore 'nuff believe it Love that 'un!!!!


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## dtala (Jul 25, 2009)

dang good lookin work...

  troy


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## bigkga69 (Jul 25, 2009)

WoW!  wouldnt you like to uncover something like that!!  I wonder what his pendant was, maybe a conch...and reckon what that sun thing is he's holding....awsome job!!!


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## backwoodsjoe (Jul 26, 2009)

bigkga69 said:


> WoW!  wouldnt you like to uncover something like that!!  I wonder what his pendant was, maybe a conch...and reckon what that sun thing is he's holding....awsome job!!!



Sure would like to find one. The pendant around the neck of the Eagle Man is a columela pendant. It is the inner whirl of the whelk shell after it is removed when they made shell bowls from the largest whelk shells. It is strung with large shell beads made from the same. He is holding a sun symbol. I remember years ago when I visited the Etowah Mounds I climbed up to the top of Mound "A". I was wearing a similar gorget and a guy and his wife looked at me and said " Hey buddy.......Do you know this is the first time in 700 years that gorget has been around someones neck standing on top of this Temple Mound".  Made cold chills run up my back ! ! !


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## Nicodemus (Jul 26, 2009)

I bet it did Steve! The detail you have there is unreal. You need one of those monolithic daggers like the Eagle Man has, for yourself...


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## bigkga69 (Jul 26, 2009)

I keep looking at that picture of the original.....makes you think.......wow....thats awsome BWJ!!!


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## backwoodsjoe (Jul 26, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> I bet it did Steve! The detail you have there is unreal. You need one of those monolithic daggers, for yourself...



I had one about a foot long several years ago made out of that brown Dover chert. A friend made it for me and someone wanted it more than I did as it kinda walked off at a program I was doing.


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## Nicodemus (Jul 26, 2009)

backwoodsjoe said:


> I had one about a foot long several years ago made out of that brown Duck River chert. Someone wanted it more than I did as it kinda walked off at a program I was doing.





We`ll see what can be done about that...


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## backwoodsjoe (Jul 26, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> We`ll see what can be done about that...



I getting Brent to do me some rivercane arrows to hunt with and I'm going to get him to make me one out of the Dover chert. I know a guy who can get me some large blocks of the stuff. The people who are supposed to know (Archaeologists) say all those large blades including the ones in the Duck River cache and the ones excavated at Etowah were all made from the chert at the Dover quarry.


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## dmedd (Jul 26, 2009)

That's some more fine gorgets Steve.


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## Nicodemus (Jul 26, 2009)

They were, Steve. Almost all the big blades in the East, were made from Dover chert. Coastal Plains chert would make a nice one too.


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## backwoodsjoe (Jul 26, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> They were, Steve. Almost all the big blades in the East, were made from Dover chert. Coastal Plains chert would make a nice one too.



I remember the one I had was brown in color and very grainy. In the book of Flintknapping, D.C. made a big one while at the quarry. The guy who made mine said it was a bugger to work with !


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## Nicodemus (Jul 26, 2009)

It is. And it won`t take to heat treatment, although you can soak it in water, and work it wet. It helps a little, but not much.


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## backwoodsjoe (Jul 26, 2009)

bigkga69 said:


> I keep looking at that picture of the original.....makes you think.......wow....thats awsome BWJ!!!




If you notice the one in my avatar, the original one that was found in Tennessee was in contact with a large copper plate. When it was dug up, it has a green copper patina on it that looked like lime green fuzz. Most copper from the upper peninsula of Michigan oxidized to malachite (copper carbonate). Not only did the shell travel a long way, the copper did too ! I really love the shell artifacts !


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## bigkga69 (Jul 26, 2009)

thats awsome!!  I may never find a shell artifact but hopefully one day I'll have a replica!!!!!


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## dpoole (Jul 27, 2009)

great as usual  how did the indians made them? What tools did they use?


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## Katera73 (Jul 27, 2009)

Awesome is the only word that can be said. The detail on that gorget is amazing. Nice work Steve!!!!


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 27, 2009)

Great looking gorget, Steve. Amazing work.


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## backwoodsjoe (Jul 27, 2009)

dpoole said:


> great as usual  how did the indians made them? What tools did they use?



Donnie it is only speculation but they could have used flint micro drill, flint gravers and flint burins. I have also wondered if maybe the shell disk could have been covered with beeswax ( don't want to hear anyone say that there were no honey producing bees in North America before the Europeans came because they were) the design scraped into the wax to expose the shell and then covered or soaked with acid from the stomach of a deer or other mammal and the acid etched the design in. The design could have been enhanced using various vegetable dies and natural pigments such as ochre.  Sure hope someone invents at time machine so I can go back in time to Etowah or Spiro and watch the artist at work then we will know for sure ! Lots of possibilities !


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