Following is a transcript of the video. Narrator: Cracking a quahog shell with a deer antler is the first step in creating wampum beads and jewelry. But today, Native American artist Allen Hazard ...

The earliest known use of wampum, which are strings of beads made from clam shells, was by North American Indians in 1535. Most likely, this monetary medium existed well before this date.

An Akwesasne artist making contemporary wampum belts says he thinks of strands of purple and white wampum beads as Morse code. The tubular beads made from quahog shells were used ornamentally or ...