Wrtten by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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As I've been saying, you can find a lot of different kinds of things on the Treasure Coast. This is a horse conch that has been modified to be used as a horn. The Florida Museum of Natural History thought it was modern.
You can find indigenous shell artifacts on the Treasure Coast. They can be difficult to identify. In fact, in my opinion, shell artifacts can be among the most difficult to identify. The signs of human modification may not be obvious to the either the untrained or trained eye. It can be difficult to say for sure. if you are looking at a broken shell or something that was intentionally modified.
The horse conch horn shown above is easy to identify.
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| Smoothed Shell Where Apex of Horse Conch Has Been Removed. |
Not only can you easily see that the apex has been removed, but you can also see that it has been ground smooth.
It isn't easy to play a conch horn - at least not for me. Sometimes I can do it fairly well, but sometimes I have a hard time getting it.
The same item also has a cut slot for a strap. It definitely looks man made.
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| Slot Cut Into Horse Conch Shell |
There is a company that manufactures conch horns today. They are fairly expensive. Here is an excerpt from their site.
To hold a conch is to hold the history of the sea and some of it's most ancient sounds. To Conch Someone is to Honor them by blowing the Conch in their Tribute or Remembrance. The first thing you must have to make great Seashell horns trophy gifts are great shells, No one has Conch shells like we do in all of America.
Used for centuries by indigenous Indians and British Naval personal as well as Yachtsmen all over the world as a signaling device!
Listed By the US Coast Guard as approved signal Horns for Passenger carrying Vessels Perfect sailing Gifts. Great Working Sail race Trophies and as Traditional sail crossing signals.
I've been told this is most likely a celt.
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| Two Views of Probably Shell Celt. |
That is from one hefty shell. It is hard for me to imagine how it would have been formed like that by nature.
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| Bone and Shell Artifacts., |
Above are a couple more examples of shell artifacts. The two on the left are bone and the two on the right are shell. One of the shell artifacts looks like a punch and the other a scrapper. These particular items were found in South Florida instead of the Treasure Coast.
Here is a rounded piece of shell. It might be a game piece or an unfinished object. I doubt it is natural.
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| Rounded Disc Shaped Shell Find. |
I don't know if the item below one was intentionally modified for the purpose, but it would make a good ladle. I think the whorl was probably intentionally broken.
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| Ladle(?) |
Some shell artifacts are more obvious. Below is a beautifully carved columnella found by DB.
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| Beautiful Carved Columnella Found by DB. |
And here is a carved gorget from the wvxu.org web site
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| Carved Shell Gorget From wvxu.org. |
In the Spanish Colonial archaeological record not many items appear to be made of shell. There are shell buttons and beads, and abalone was a common material for decorative use. Other than that, bone, glass, jet and other materials seem much more common.
Today I am simply reminding you of a class of artifacts that have been and can be found on the Treasure Coast beaches. You should be aware of them and report any that might be part of a protected site or of interest to archaeologists.
Here is a link you might use to learn more about the subject.
And here is a link that will take you to a bibliography on the Ais Indians.
Microsoft Word - AIS INDIANs NEW.docx (ircgov.com)
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The Building America Backwards program is proceeding at a rapid rate now. The U.S. dollar is losing ground rapidly.as China gains influence around the world and in the U.S.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
The surf predictions aren't very exciting right now. The tides are pretty flat too.
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net