[Illustration: Fig. 25—Mound-builder Jewelry.]
Beads always have been popular with human beings as articles of personal
adornment. The Mound-builders and other Indians used them in great
numbers, samples of which are shown in the picture. From left to right
there are: Beads made of fresh-water pearls, which are found in the
mounds by the thousands; a “breast-pin” of sea-shell decorated with the
effigy of an insect, and a Bear Tusk with a Pearl set in it, used as a
pendant for a necklace.
The Mound-builders made Pendants and Beads and other ornaments, some of
which were sewed onto cloth, out of Copper, Mica, Tortoise-shell, Stone
and Bone. Many Buttons about as large around as a dime, made of
sandstone and covered with thin layers of copper or silver, have been
found in the burial mounds. Some of the Mound-builders even wore rings
of copper on their fingers.