A Belt to Bind Them, to Find Them, to Bring Them all Back Home

Abstract

Wampum, war, and war clubs have been linked inextricably among Iroquoian speakers for more than two centuries. The following contribution will explain its use based on some of the earliest existing war clubs in Paris collections. Thereby wampum was of necessity to close successfully the gaps of the deceased relatives, and through adoption of captives, Native Nations counteracted a decline in their population. The needed belts painted in red did not survive; instead their images did, because they served to identify warriors as leaders publicly. Neglected since the French Revolution, war clubs from the Ancient Regime are not only of extraordinary quality. They offer a unique opportunity to look back in time and function as witnesses to past practices, as a medium of non-verbal communication, which has long been gone, correlating with the loss of Native American autonomy.