Shell fragment

Collection type: Object
Description: Shell fragment
Long description: Triangular ornament of greenish stone, cut away at base which is oval. Flaw in stone at one side. [El.B 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 5/12/2005]
Geographical reference: Saint Kitts and Nevis
Latin America and the Caribbean > Caribbean > Saint Kitts and Nevis; St Kitts Ponds Estate site to the north of the sugar factory pier
Cultural groups: Arawak
Person: Field collector Herbert Boon; PRM source Herbert Boon; PRM source T. Wingate
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1930?, uncertain
Date collected: 1908 - 1930
Acquisition information: Purchased: 1966
Materials and processes: Material Stone
Dimensions: Width: max 39 mm, Height: max 35 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1966.29.47
Research and responses: Lennox Honeychurch (former student at the Pitt Rivers Museum), discusses similiarly shaped pieces of stone which were used by early Carib and Arawak settlers of the region as physical representations of the islands on three dimensional maps in his doctoral thesis. These stone objects were sized and shaped to represent each specific island in a group, and then set either on mats or connected using a series of small wood pieces representing trade winds. Dr. Honeychurch's thesis, The Carribean People, can be found in the Bodelien bookstacks. [MOB 2/10/2000]
Probably spirit-image, ZEMI. (See Olsen, DOC). LM.
Associated publications: Reference: Finding the Forgotten: Locating Transatlantic Slavery in The Pitt Rivers Museum Collection, Main author: Jane Webster, 2025, Page: 123

Search terms: Ornament, Religion, Tool, Religious Object

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