Photographs (left to right): Berries, Taughannock Falls State Park, New York; Water Moccasin, Florida; Hamlin Beach State Park, New York

Wampum Belt Archive

 

Great Peace Treaty

 

Two diamonds are missing on end (Clarke, 1931)

 

R.D. Hamell 05 13 2012

 

 

Original Size:	Beaded Length: 24.0 inches. Width: 2.5 inches. Rows: 7.
Reproduction:	Beaded Length: 35.0 inches. Width: 4.8 inches. Length w/fringe: 59.0 inches.
Beads:	Columns: 194. Rows: 7. Beads: 1,358.
Materials:	Warp: Deer leather. Weft: Artificial sinew. Beads: Polymer.

Description:

Quote Bardeau (2011)

This peace treaty belt with 13 diamonds represents the 13 colonies’ “good and peaceful intentions.” This belt was entrusted to Ohio Seneca Chief Gayahso:dö´ at the 1775 Fort Pitt treaty conference in Pittsburgh. The peace belt was to keep the Eastern and Western Senecas neutral in the Revolutionary War.

ex NMAI 22/4242 exchanged with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1954. Unknown history (Stolle, Nickolaus)

Note: Original belt: the 11th Diamond is incomplete and terminates with a complete row of purple beads.

Reference:

Bardeau, Phyllis Eileen Wms. 2011. Definitive Seneca: It's In The Word. Jaré Cardinal, editor. Seneca-Iroquois Museum Publisher, Salamanca, New York, 443pp.

Clarke, Noah T. 1931 New York State Museum Bulletin No. 28.