Ebook: Talking beads: the history of wampum as a value and knowledge bearer from its very first beginnings until today

Hidden messages (of the past?) – Exploring tracks
of indigenous people: Latest scientific findings
help revise our present-day knowledge concerning
Native Americans. New evidence suggests that some
graphic type of communication was used for more
than 300 years. Now, for the first time, those signs
can be deciphered. Indigenous messages of the past
are found on bands, woven of valuable beads called
wampum. “Talking Beads: The History of Wampum
as a Value and Knowledge Bearer, From its Very First
Beginnings Until Today”, presents a convincing
treatise (including many illustrations) of the more
than 400 preserved wampum belts, bands and bags.
The book is based on the ethnography of the classic
Americanist Franz Boas and considers numerous
archaeological, ethnological, ethnographic, linguistic and material sources from the 17th to the 21st
century. Answers to questions like: Why had wampum
been particularly valuable since its beginning? Had
it been a substitute for money? How did its system
of communication develop? How far had it been
dispersed? Who had access to it? And how did it
influence the majority of the population? can now be
found.