Shell gorgets in the shape of a human face are well-known artifacts of the North American archaeological complex often termed the “Southern Cult.” These gorgets were usually made of a pear-shaped section of the outer whorl of the shell of the whelk (Busycon perversum). Though the whelk is found only on the South Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States, gorgets of this material have been found as far north as Manitoba and Saskatchewan (Montgomery 1908).

Recently the writer, in reading ethnographic accounts of the Kansa, was surprised to find descriptions, together with one native drawing, of what are very likely Southern Cult gorgets, used in Kansa war-bundle ceremonies as late as 1883. Since no one, so far as is known, has pointed out the persistence of th's archaeological trait in historic Kansa culture, a few notes are perhaps appropriate.

The earlier of the 2 accounts, and one which is liable to be overlooked by most anthropologists, is J. Owen Dorsey's “Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas” (1885).