Thank Y'all, We won't be washin em up. I have a deep case and foam I'm not using, just need some black or blue velvet to line the case with. They were all found in a stack about 2 to 3 feet down in a winter camp or hunting camp. It's a small camp 30 by 50 feet tops and it has transitional and late archaic pieces through out. Birdies on top and archaic down low. I'm thinking about taking them to U.T. or another school with an archeology department. But If they have never seen anything like them they won't be any help. I curious on thier age ?
Early transtional or late archaic. A friend told me they are probably at least 1000 years old but not over 3k years. I should probably just drive em up to D.R. and pay the COA fee. They need a credible COA for Value anyway.
Thanks for the Front Pge Michelle, My buddy "E" and my Wife say's thank You too.

Kris

I have seen several from Williamson Co. There is a difference between whelk beads, pendants and gorgets. They are Gorgets (French for throat) and prehistoric personal ornaments. Most likely the prehistoric owner was someone considered elite or of importance. Some might have been worn daily, but not the majority, as the drilled holes would show more wear. To me, more likely worn during significant events. Most were manufactured closer to the coast. They arrived in Williamson County thru several avenues to include prehistoric trade. When found as a group they are almost always burial goods. In Williamson Co most are Ensor, Scallorn or Perdiz related.

JMO

John haberer

Thank You John. I found a pretty Scallorn the week before they were found three feet away and yesterday the guy that found the Gorgets found an Ensor so I think You are right on. Also some show daily ware and some show very little as you said as well. There are no drawings, doodlings or cross inscriptions,they are blank. The owner may have made them to be offered but there is no evidence of burial in the area we are digging. Also there is no really fancy flint work yet, There have been some pretty nice points but no screamers. To see the point types look at the last post I made called New camp finds looks promising (or something like that) Anyway thanks for the input. Any info I can find on these is definitely valuable to me. After searching the web I can't find anything quite like them. I would like to see other example that are similar but there are none. Thanks again Kris.

That's interesting food for thought. There weren't many ensors and 0 birds found in the mound with my welk bead. There was however a bird/darl camp a few hundred yards down the creek. Makes me wonder if it wasn't a burial object as it was well down into the mound of archaic points. The bead and a broke stone gorget were the only drilled things found in a fair amount of digging, It always puzzled me with the amount of nice drills we found.

Google "Whelk Shell Gorgets"..........a lot of gorgets including a photo of yours.