As the increased manufacture of wampum beads made them more common wampum spread inland as far as the Great Plains and southward to Virginia. Wampum production wasn't limited to the Native Americans.

Paula Peters and Linda Coombs gently unravel the community wampum belt they helped create, revealing 3,570 wampum beads, which bind together to give life to powerful totems like the whale, turtle ...

Wampum, beads, both light and dark are incredibly delicate and require significant time and attention in order to create. This is an old art form and the techniques, even how to make the beads.

Allen Hazard of the Narragansett tribe has been making wampum, a purple and white bead, from quahogs, or hard-shell clams, for the past 40 years.

They are separated by three beads that signified a silver chain with three links for peace, friendship and forever, Powless said. He owns a small replica and has seen the original, some 6 feet ...

Wampum belts were used by many Indigenous nations to share stories of important events, or to keep records. The belts are woven together with small purple and white beads made from quahog shells.

The recently commissioned Two Row wampum belt, with the tools used to make it, that has been put on display at the New-York Historical Society. Credit: Wampum Magic/Lydia Chavez ...