> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Reference:: https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20200302/wampanoag-weave-their-story-through-wampum-belt-project > Date:: 2023 > Tags:: #warp #USA #Indigenous #beading > WeftLinks:: [[Cultural value of craft]] > Claim:: [[Claim - Craft strengthens relationships between members of a cultural group]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary > Wampanoag artisans are recreating a wampum belt for the English who stole the original in the hope it will be returned. ### Highlights SmokeSygnals, a communications consulting firm that is curator for the project, sought out Wampanoag artisans in February 2019 to help create the woven, beaded belt. The project got its start in July at the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s powwow, Peters said. The Arts Council of England and Plymouth City Council of England funded the project, Peters' son Steven, creative director of SmokeSygnals, said. Wampanoag members handmade the beads, receiving $300 per foot, he said. The shells must be fresh or they become too frail and bitter. Wampum, meaning quahog shell, consists of purple and white beads from whelk and quahog shells. Native tribes would form beads as small as 4 millimeters, Steven Peters said. In 1676, English colonists were responsible for the death of Wampanoag Chief Metacom, also known as King Philip, in Rhode Island. He was decapitated, cut into quarters, and his body was taken to Plymouth, where his head was put on a spike. At that time, a 9-foot-long wampum belt depicting the tribe’s history was in Metacom’s possession, along with other tribal artifacts. The tribe had woven the belt together over a long period of time, depicting the tribe’s history and telling its stories. British colonist Benjamin Church took the belt and artifacts and gave them to the governor, who then sent them to the king in England. But the wampum belt, along with those other artifacts, was never delivered to the king. The items were most likely sold, Paula Peters said. The wampum belt has been missing ever since, and the tribe has been working to recover it. Tribe members hope that by sending their new wampum belt to England to educate people, Chief Metacom’s lost wampum belt will resurface