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MARINE SHELL MASK GORGETS
LATE PREHISTORIC
MONTANA & SOUTH DAKOTA
1450 TO 1675
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Backlighted view of a shell mask from Montana.
SHELL MASK GORGET
MONTANA
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, LEWISTOWN DISTRICT, MONTANA

   This shell mask was discovered in a cave in Montana. The picture was taken with back lighting to show its transparency.

ABSTRACT:

MARINE SHELL MASK GORGETS
MONTANA AND SOUTH DAKOTA
LATE PREHISTORIC 1450 TO 1675

   This article illustrates and describes four shell masks. Two were surface collected on different sites in South Dakota and two were found in a cave in Montana. The specific information used to describe these masks comes from two reports. One is from Michael Fosha, State Archaeological Research Center, South Dakota and the other was written by Stanley Jaynes, Bureau of Land Management, Lewistown District, Montana.

"According to local Lakota beliefs these items may have been used in curing ceremonies".---2001, Michael Fosha, State Arch. Research Center, SD.
"It is suggested that the Montana masks were a spirit offering, left by one of the Plains tribes."---2001, Stanley Jaynes, BLM, lewistown District, Montana

Four shell mask gorgest from Montana and South Dakota.
THE TWO MASKS ON THE LEFT WERE FOUND IN SOUTH DAKOTA
THE TWO MASKS ON THE RIGHT WERE FOUND IN MONTANA

MARINE SHELL MASK GORGETS
MONTANA AND SOUTH DAKOTA
LATE PREHISTORIC 1450 TO 1675
State Archaeological Research Center, South Dakota and Bureau of Land Management, Lewis District, Montana

   The above statements place these four artifacts into the more rare category of ceremonial equipment. When the words "offerings", "spirits", and "ceremonies" are used to describe something the objects will probably never be completely understood on the spiritual level. But recording the facts is the goal and these shell masks are helping to increase the growing knowledge of marine shell mask gorgets in the northwestern U.S.

Three views of a shell mask from South Dakota.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE

MARINE SHELL MASK GORGET
LATE PREHISTORIC
SOUTH DAKOTA
DONATED TO BEAR BUTTE STATE PARK

   This is the smaller of the two shell masks from South Dakota. It was found sometime in the 1960's on a talus slope on an important natural landmark located north of the Black Hills called Bear Butte. This site has a strong connection to many Plains groups who consider it to be a sacred location. Dr. Jim Fox of Invertebrate Paleontology, SD School of Mines & Tec., Rapid City, SD believes there is a chance that the shell this mask is made of could be a fossil gastropod. Only chemical analysis could determine if it is a fossil or a recent shell. This mask is in good condition but it has lost its original shine or luster. It measures 5 3/16 inches ( 13.2 cm) long and 4 1/4 inches (10.8 cm) wide.

  Shell is a raw material that has been used by humans all over the world all the way back to the days of the Neanderthals. The tiniest of shells, like marginella or olivella, were used for beads and the largest ones like the large giant "man killer" clam shells of the South Pacific were used to make such things as war club heads and wood working tools like adzes. In North America, shells have been used to make cups, spoons, fishhooks, knives, scrapers, clubs, picks, celts, adzes, gouges, plummets, beads, pendants, earrings, pins, breastplates and gorgets.

Close-up view of lines on a shell mask gorget.
CLOSE-UP OF HORIZONTAL LINES ON THE SMALLER OF THE TWO SHELL MASKS FROM SOUTH DAKOTA
LATE PREHISTORIC
DONATED TO BEAR BUTTE STATE PARK

   Invertebrate Paleontologist Dr. Jim Fox has studied this shell mask and believes that the lines on the surface may be an indicator that it's a fossil shell rather than a recent one. He says that lines like the ones shown in this picture are common on some fossil gastropods.

  This article focuses on four carved marine shell mask gorgets, two from Montana and two from South Dakota. The South Dakota masks were found on the surface of the ground on widely separated sites. The smaller of the two (pictured above) was found on a talus slope sometime in the 1960's on Bear Butte, a site that is sacred to many of the Plains Indians. In fact the Cheyenne believe it is their most sacred location and is "the sacred mountain where people are taught." Bear Butte is the name of the natural formation there. The site is located just north of the Black Hills in western South Dakota.

Close-up view of the nose of a shell mask gorget.
CLOSE-UP OF THE NOSE, EYES AND BROW RIDGE OF ONE OF THE EYES
LATE PREHISTORIC
SOUTH DAKOTA
DONATED TO BEAR BUTTE STATE PARK

   This close-up view shows some of the carved detail on the smaller mask from South Dakota. Some of the surface of the shell was carved down to form the brow ridges. The nose is carved in relief and tapers to a point that is slightly off center. This shell mask measures 2 3/8 inches (6 cm) long.

   One interesting fact about the Bear Butte shell mask is that it may be made of fossil shell rather than a recent one, according to Dr. Jim Fox, an Invertebrate Paleontologist who studied it. He says that chemical analysis would be needed in order to determine if it was a fossil.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"

1912, Frederic Webb Hodge, "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," pp.539-541.
2001, Michael Fosha, "Faces of Shell: Two Marine Shell Mask Gorgets From South Dakota."
2002, Stanley Jaynes, "Marine Shell Mask Gorgets In Montana."

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