dress with dentalium shells, unrecorded Lakota artist

Exhibition Label:
"Beaded Heritage,” Mar-2010, Robin Bang
After the availability of hides dimished, wool cloth introduced by European traders was used more readily to make dresses. Although wool cloth was available in several colors, red and blue were /are favored by the Sioux. Wool dresses were decorated much the same way as hide dresses. Dentalium shells, like those on this dress, were considered very valuable. Over the centuries, these shells have had diverse uses in American Indian life: as objects of beauty for ornamentation and ritual, as currency in local economies, as symbols of power and cultural identity, and as trade items used in long-distance exchange.