Photographs (left to right): All Mohave Desert, California/Nevada

 

Wampum Belt Archive

Great Whiate-Thistle Mat 1570

Lafitau Iroquois Belt

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Original Size:

Unknown

Reproduction:

Beaded Length: 36.0 inches. Width: 28.0 inches. Length w/fringe: 60.0 inches.

Beads:

Columns: 205. Rows: 50. Beads: 10,250.

Materials:

Warp: Deer leather. Weft: Artificial sinew. Beads: Polymer.

Description:

Joseph-François Lafitau (French: [lafito]; May 31, 1681 – July 3, 1746) was a French Jesuit missionary, ethnologist, and naturalist. He is best known for his use of the comparative method in the field of scientific anthropology, the discovery of ginseng, and his writings on the Iroquois. Lafitau was the first of the Jesuit missionaries in Canada to have a scientific point of view. Francis Parkman praises Lafitau, stating, “none of the old writers are so satisfactory as Lafitau.."

Reference:

Beauchamp 1901