Wampum belt

Beads recording an agreement.

Also known as: Wampum record, Shell bead belt

CulturalHistorical & archaeologicalPolitical & socialStandard profile

Meanings

The Haudenosaunee and neighbouring belt of shell beads recording a treaty, message or relationship.

Historically documentedVerified fact
Records agreements, messages and relationships in the arrangement of its beads.
Contexts: History, Public information
Culturally establishedVerified fact
Read by a keeper who recites the agreement the belt records, so the belt is a mnemonic and a proof of the agreement rather than a text of it — which is why belts are returned to communities rather than displayed as objects.
Contexts: History, Public information
Culturally establishedTradition
The two-row belt records a relationship between two peoples travelling the same river in separate vessels; that reading is the tradition's own and is given here as such.
Contexts: History, Public information

Visual description

Rows of cylindrical shell beads woven into a belt, the arrangement of light and dark beads forming bands, lines and figures across its length.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright

Confidence

IdentityModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

The symbols of religious and spiritual traditions
Religious-studies scholarship and the traditions' own published accounts · retrieved 2026-08-27
Cited for the identity of a symbol and for the account a tradition gives of it, attributed to that tradition. Never cited for the truth of any religious claim. Where a symbol is sacred, restricted or contested, the record says so and does not reproduce restricted material.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27

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Meanings

The Haudenosaunee and neighbouring belt of shell beads recording a treaty, message or relationship.

Historically documentedVerified fact

Records agreements, messages and relationships in the arrangement of its beads.

Contexts: History, Public information

Culturally establishedVerified fact

Read by a keeper who recites the agreement the belt records, so the belt is a mnemonic and a proof of the agreement rather than a text of it — which is why belts are returned to communities rather than displayed as objects.

Contexts: History, Public information

Culturally establishedTradition

The two-row belt records a relationship between two peoples travelling the same river in separate vessels; that reading is the tradition's own and is given here as such.

Contexts: History, Public information

Confidence

IdentityModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

The symbols of religious and spiritual traditions
Religious-studies scholarship and the traditions' own published accounts · retrieved 2026-08-27
Cited for the identity of a symbol and for the account a tradition gives of it, attributed to that tradition. Never cited for the truth of any religious claim. Where a symbol is sacred, restricted or contested, the record says so and does not reproduce restricted material.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27