Identifying Gorget

Jim McDougall · 10th November 2012, 08:30 PM

Apparantly simple geometric shapes were of course inherent among tribal peoples from prehistoric and archaic times, and probably the most common were the circle and the crescent of half moon. In North America among the Indian tribes there were various shapes of these and certain items which had totemic or other significant values which were fashioned in copper or other soft metals. Many of these shapes seem to have been worn as breastplates, and even some iron tools traded to the tribes by the Dutch apparantly ended up being worn as breastplates rather than properly used as noted in "Mishwabik, Metal of Ritual" (A, Trevalyan, 1981, p.89). In post contact period, apparantly numerous supplies of European metallic crescents traded resulted in less native production and fashioning of these kinds of items.

This would support that these crescent gorgets of European military uniforms would have distinctly have interested the warrior chieftains, not only with the inherent symbolism denoting power but that of rank or status.
The apparant attraction to metal of the Indian tribes in certain symbolic properties may well lead away from this example of leather being of suitable material for presentation to one of these chieftains. However, the key use of leather in the attire of the woodland tribes warriors may have been of consideration given the adoption of these kinds of attire by these guerilla units.

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10th November 2012, 08:30 PM	#7
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,189	Apparantly simple geometric shapes were of course inherent among tribal peoples from prehistoric and archaic times, and probably the most common were the circle and the crescent of half moon. In North America among the Indian tribes there were various shapes of these and certain items which had totemic or other significant values which were fashioned in copper or other soft metals. Many of these shapes seem to have been worn as breastplates, and even some iron tools traded to the tribes by the Dutch apparantly ended up being worn as breastplates rather than properly used as noted in "Mishwabik, Metal of Ritual" (A, Trevalyan, 1981, p.89). In post contact period, apparantly numerous supplies of European metallic crescents traded resulted in less native production and fashioning of these kinds of items. This would support that these crescent gorgets of European military uniforms would have distinctly have interested the warrior chieftains, not only with the inherent symbolism denoting power but that of rank or status. The apparant attraction to metal of the Indian tribes in certain symbolic properties may well lead away from this example of leather being of suitable material for presentation to one of these chieftains. However, the key use of leather in the attire of the woodland tribes warriors may have been of consideration given the adoption of these kinds of attire by these guerilla units.