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Message stick
Object Number 05-19-10/64717
Display Title Message stick
Descriptions
Indigenous Term gy-no-scah (gai-no-scah)
Object Description Message stick with a string of white wampum beads attached. Sent as invitation to Six Nation dance. Notches indicate number of days before dance. Each day a notch is cut off. The stick itself measures 9 long and tappers from a maximum width of 0.9 cm at the place where the wampum is attached to 0.3 cm at its base. A series of 13 notches can be seen on the side of the stick and faint grooves below these show that 8 more have been whittled off. This treatment would seem to indicate that the stick was used to send messages in the manner Harrington (1958:31) described where the stick is originally notched to show how many days there were before an important event and a notch was cut off each day by the messenger so that the tribe being invited to the event would arrive on ti[see Object Description text entry for extended description]
Inventory Description Message stick, small carved wood stick, notched, white wampum beads attached
Classification
  • Special
Department Ethnographic
Date 18th century
Culture
  • Seneca
Geography/Provenience/Site Name
North America / United States / New York / Erie County
Additional Geographic Terms Cattaraugus Reservation
Materials Wood Shell Fiber Cotton Wampum Silk
Dimensions L: 9.1 cm, W: 0.7 cm. Wampum attachment: 20.5 cm
Quantity 1
Provenance
Previous owner Previously owned by Delos Kittle
Collector Dr. Mark Raymond Harrington (Apr-1905)
Dealer Dr. Mark Raymond Harrington (1905)

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