Wampum Belt Archive

This Wyandot belt commemorates the 200th year marking the Wyandotte (Wyandot) removal from Michigan and Ohio. The design was a collective effort Richard Hamell, Scott Bentley (Raisin River National Battlefield Superintendent), Grand Chief Ted Roll (Wyandot of Anderdon) and Daniel Harrison (Wayne State Univ). I an indebted to Scott, Ted and Dan for their insight and assistance in creating the original belt. Scott Bentley provided the description text. Description The 200th Commemorative Wampum Belt will be weaved in a purple-field emphasizing the horror and tragedies of losing the villages of Brownstown and Maguaga after an intense 33 year struggle to retain them.

On each end of the belt, fragmented pieces of the Treaty of Greenville Wampum belt are incorporated to illustrate the broken treaty and worthless words that were inscribed in it. The two squares represent the two villages and the nearly 1,200 Wyandot that lived in the villages when they were taken from the Wyandot in 1818. The six-sided star symbolizes the Six Points Development and return of the Wyandot to the site of the Confederate Council Fire at Big Rock\Brownstown 200 years after their removal in 2018.

The six points represent the traditional Wyandot prayer to the north, south, east, west, heaven and earth as a thank you to the Great Creator for protecting the Wyandot people and keeping them strong during the 200 year journey since leaving their villages. The two-row section running between them, shows the open lines of understanding and healing as together we journey to understand and share for the benefit of future generations. Between each symbol on the belt there are 7 beads representing the 7 generations who came before us making our journey possible and the 7 generations to come reminding us to be good stewards of Mother Earth and to remember the lasting impacts of decisions we make today on future generations.