NECKLACE

Object/Artifact

St. Joseph Museums

Name/Title

NECKLACE

Entry/Object ID

252/4800

Description

SEASHELLS/CATALOG SAYS "TASMANIAN SHELLS"

Collection

ETHNOGRAPHIC/POLYNESIA

Made/Created

Place

Region

Polynesia

Continent

Oceania

Ethnography

Cultural Region

State/Province

Hawai'i

Culture/Tribe

Hawai'ian

Polynesian

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Necklace

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Jewelry

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Body Adornments

Nomenclature Class

Adornment

Nomenclature Category

Category 03: Personal Objects

Dimensions

Length

36 in

Parts

Count

Material

SEASHELLS

Condition

Overall Condition

Good

Research Notes

Notes

This necklace of shells comes from Hawai'i. The shells that make up the necklace are Acatinella vulpina shells, or Hawai'ian land snails. The first description of land snails come from a lei, on that would have been similar to this one here and one that was created for Queen Liliʻuokalani that can be found in the Bishop Museum in Hawai'i. At one time, there were over 750 species of land snail that could only be found on the Hawai'ian islands - now over 60% are extinct. Moʻolelo, or Hawai'ian oral story telling, detail the importance of the land snails to Hawai'ian culture.