The Irven & John Becker Memorial Collection |
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The Becker Collection
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T'weyomah (Ceremonial Cap) Carrie Sandy Bar Jim Roberts, Yurok c. 1900 Haamoh (beargrass), 'wer'hlpeeterk (willow roots), raak nee ye'y (maidenhair fern), tegee'n (porcupine quills) and wolf moss Hair Ties c. Early 1900’s Abalone shells, buckskin, beargrass and clam shells Ceremonial Necklace c. Early 1900’s 7 strands made of pine nuts and brass beads Muenchehl (Ceremonial Dress) Ina Faustino, Yurok c. 1900’s Skoy (buckskin), haamoh (beargrass), luuehl (iris fiber), seksah (small clam shells), yer' (abalone), pa'aap' (woodwardia fern), and canvas Kinahłdun-ts'e:y' (Flower Dance Stick) Hupa c. Early 1900’s Used in Flower Dance, Women’s coming of age ceremony |
Ceremonial necklaces from the Becker collection. Made with a wide variety of materials detailed below.
Beads of North America
Long before European and Asian glass beads were elements of trade and commerce in Indigenous communities, beads from shells, seeds, special stones and metals were utilized. Beads have relative durability and are often important personal possessions carried to the grave. Today personal adornment with traditional beads plays a key role in daily life as well as ceremony.
Beads were a well established part of extensive trade networks from the Pacific Coast to the far reaches of ancient North America. Evidence of abalone shell beads from the Pacific Coast has been found in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico (over 1,300 miles from here). A massive network of trade was established which moved olivella shells from California into the interior of the ancient United States by 10,000 BP (BP stands for years Before Present) and into the Great Basin by 4,400-5,400 BP. Clam disk money was primarily centered among Pomoan tribes from c. 1200 BP but Yurok also made clam shell money, which still appears in necklaces today.
Within California a trade network developed in coastal shells, abalone, olivella, and clam shells to Karuk and Shasta tribes, who exchanged juniper seeds and mountain iris fiber string from their region. Victor Golla has explored the linguistic use of words associated with these trade systems and believes that they are key to understanding the development of counting systems, money, gambling, and trade. He thinks sophisticated counting and gambling developed in Northwest California about 1,000 years ago.
-Native American Jewelry and Adornment of Northwest California by Ron Johnson and Coleen Kelley Marks, 2011
Beads were a well established part of extensive trade networks from the Pacific Coast to the far reaches of ancient North America. Evidence of abalone shell beads from the Pacific Coast has been found in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico (over 1,300 miles from here). A massive network of trade was established which moved olivella shells from California into the interior of the ancient United States by 10,000 BP (BP stands for years Before Present) and into the Great Basin by 4,400-5,400 BP. Clam disk money was primarily centered among Pomoan tribes from c. 1200 BP but Yurok also made clam shell money, which still appears in necklaces today.
Within California a trade network developed in coastal shells, abalone, olivella, and clam shells to Karuk and Shasta tribes, who exchanged juniper seeds and mountain iris fiber string from their region. Victor Golla has explored the linguistic use of words associated with these trade systems and believes that they are key to understanding the development of counting systems, money, gambling, and trade. He thinks sophisticated counting and gambling developed in Northwest California about 1,000 years ago.
-Native American Jewelry and Adornment of Northwest California by Ron Johnson and Coleen Kelley Marks, 2011
Pine nut beads
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Pine Nut and Juniper Berry Necklaces
Juniper berries were traded from Eastern Karuk or other tribes with access to the berries. Traditionally juniper berry necklaces were worn by women. Pine nuts from the gray pine (Pinus sabiniana) were used both alone and interspaced with shells in many neckalces. They were gathered and then drilled and the ends cut or scraped away. The meat of the nut is removed through tediously scraping inside the nut with a fine tool. The dark outer surface could be scraped off or left on. If left on it can be cooked in oil to create a blackened surface. -Native American Jewelry and Adornment of Northwest California by Ron Johnson and Coleen Kelley Marks, 2011 |
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Clam Shells
Clam shells rank beneath abalone but were also a trade item. A hole may already be on the top of the shell or one can easily be made by scraping the shell on a rock. The main work is finding them and sorting them by size and color to have a harmonious matching assemblage. -Native American Jewelry and Adornment of Northwest California by Ron Johnson and Coleen Kelley Marks, 2011 |
Clam shell beads
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Olivella Shells (unmodified)
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Olivella Shells
Olivella shells (Olivella biplicata) are more common and found on the coast from Vancouver Island to Baja. They come in a variety of colors including brown, gray, and white. The white can also be achieved through bleaching from the sun on the beach or cooking them. Olivella shells were traditionally collected on “Home Beach” at Tsuri (Yurok village in Trinidad). -Native American Jewelry and Adornment of Northwest California by Ron Johnson and Coleen Kelley Marks, 2011 |
Men's Activities
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Description from inside sleeve of Songs of Love, Luck, Animals, & Magic record
“The gambling game and gambling songs described here are restricted to men. To ensure success they train for ten nights before gambling, abstaining from water for five days, from sexual intercourse for ten days (five and ten are the Tolowa ritual numbers), eating only thin acorn gruel, taking steam baths and baths in the river. “Your mind is away from sex, away from food, away from water, and concentrating on your luck for this game” (interview with Loren Bommelyn, April 12, 1976 in Los Angeles). Sometimes songs come to the man while he is training. The “card” game is played with a bundle of about fifty uniform sticks made from the wood of the mock-orange, huckleberry, elderberry, or yew, or others that split straight. The “ace” is marked during the training period from a drop of the man’s blood and some charcoal from the fire. (The mark is called chakwin in Tolowa.) During the game in the old days according to Bommelyn, “There’d be… mounds of dentalium shells and money just piled up… because it's high bets. And people that had really strong medicine and luck were very rich men… Those are the older ones that have the money to buy you [a wife]. And they are the ones that ended up with five or six wives because they had enough money to buy them and support them, because they had good luck in cards” Two guessers, one from each team, sit opposite each other with their singers behind them, the women on the sidelines. The gambler mixes up the bundle of sticks to hide the ace while his team sings for him. The guesser must choose the hand where the ace is hidden, and then the gambler tosses the sticks on the ground, revealing the location of the marked stick. If the guesser has been successful, his side takes up the singing and the other side must guess; if the first guesser fails, the first gambler scores a point. When the ace is found, the gambler says “Hee chakwin!” (“They found my ace!”). These words can be heard at the end of most gambling songs on this record. The training, the “lucky” songs, the hand movements of the gambler, and the tricky endings of some songs work together to give the gambler an advantage. The first team to score eleven points wins. The gambling songs are sung to the accompaniment of a square frame drum and a hand rattle. Several singers/drummers can perform at one time. However, the leader’s drum is tuned to match his voice, and the other singers usually choose to second or sing “bass” and play the rattle. The drum and rattle are used only to accompany gambling songs, and every drum has a song that belongs to it. The rattle (chabecha) is a stick onto which pieces of deer hooves have been tied.” -Songs of Love, Luck, Animals and Magic: Music of the Yurok and Tolowa Indians. New World Records #80297-2 (p) & © 1977 Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc. Used by permission. 
Snake skin wrapped dentalium money string
Elk Horn Carved Purse
Measuring shell money- Tolowa
Photographed by Edward Curtis 1923 Edward S. Curtis Collection (Library of Congress) |
Songs of Love, Luck, Animals and Magic Music of the Yurok and Tolowa Indians
Released in 1977 
Redwood stool, soapstone and wooden pipes, gambling tray with snake skin wrapped dentalium money string, and gambling cards
Gambling
Gambling is a popular game for men. The game is played with small bundles of sticks, one stick is marked with a ring around the middle and the bundles are held behind their backs. Opponents attempt to guess which hand the marked stick is in, in order to win. The game is accompanied by drums and singing, intended to bring good luck to the players. -Karuk Language and Territory 
Anatomy of dentalium
Dentalium: Money and Adornment
Dentalium refers to tusk shells or tooth shells of scaphopod mollusks; there are over 50 different species of dentalium. Dentalium utilized by the Yurok, Hupa, Karuk, Tolowa, and Wiyot communities were traditionally harvested from the deep waters off the coast of Vancouver Island. Today dentalium is sourced from around the world for use in local ceremonies and daily life. Dentalium is the most prestigious among shells, partly because it is not local. Traditionally harvested off the coast of Vancouver Island by the Ehattetesaht and Quatsino people and traded to the local region for sea otter pelts, which in turn were traded for metals. Dentalium was harvested with a broom-like instrument with over 100 yew wood splints attached to an extension pole that could reach depths of 50-60 feet. -Native American Jewelry and Adornment of Northwest California by Ron Johnson and Coleen Kelley Marks, 2011 Money These shells were true money and nowhere were they more sought after than in Northwest California. Men and women had tattoos on their arms to measure the length of each dentalium shell. Generally the larger ones up to about 2 ¼ inches were money, which had great purchasing power. The tips or smaller shells were regarded as shells rather than monty and were used in women’s necklaces. The longer money shells were strung in lengths of 10 or more shells and kept in elkhorn carved purses. Money could be strung on iris fiber and the shells could be enhanced with incising, woodpecker feathers and human blood mixed with soot and applied in irregular patterns. Others were wrapped with money snake (like the ones in the tray on display here) which brought luck. -Native American Jewelry and Adornment of Northwest California by Ron Johnson and Coleen Kelley Marks, 2011 |