Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Mon, 23 Aug 1999 10:34:08 -0400 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
I have noticed the use of Whelk (Busycon spp.) shells on graves in Crawford
Georgia. The graves are of children who died in the early 1900s. Crawford
is not a coastal town (it is ~5 hours from the coast). I have no idea how
or why they would be used.
Amy
>In a message dated 8/3/1999 9:25:16 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
><<
> We found several conch shells in two old cemeteries of German
> immigrants,
> ca. 1850-1900. Could you possibly tell me the symbolism involved? The
> cemeteries are located in St. Charles County, MO a great distance from
> the
> ocean for immigrants in the middle to late 1800's. Not easily supplied
> I
> would think. We found four conchs in all, very old!!
>
> Dick Schroeder and Phyllis Gumm
> >>-------------------------------------
>
>I don't know what culture originated the use of conchs but...
>while I was visiting in the Bahamas I noted they would use conch shells in
>much of their decorating. It was in the masontry of their buildings (walls)
>also. My guess is that since it is a mainstay in the Bahamian diet, the
>empty shells become cumbersome and have to be used for something. [there
>isn't much space to dump stuff on islands or a great deal of building tools.]
> Any way I noted that there were chonch shells in their cemetaries as well.
>But I don't know it there was a symbolic reason for it.
>April
Amy Edwards, Program Coordinator ------ [log in to unmask]
Georgia Museum of Natural History -------- phone (706) 542-4137
University of Georgia -------- FAX 706-542-3920
Athens, GA 30602-1882 -------- http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"A man's mind, stretched by new ideas, can never go back to its original
dimensions." Oliver Wendell Holmes
|
|
|