Quahog Shell

The quahog shell is the shell of Mercenaria mercenaria, the hard clam, an edible marine bivalve native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America, from Prince Edward Island to the Yucatán Peninsula. Quahog comes from the Narragansett word poquauhock. The clam is also called the round clam, hard-shell clam, northern quahog and, for the largest size, chowder clam. The shells are best known as the source of the black or purple parts of wampum, the shell beads of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. Before European contact, strings and belts of wampum were used for storytelling, ceremonial gifts, and recording treaties and other important events. Among the Haudenosaunee, wampum is still used in the ceremony of raising up a new chief and in Thanksgiving ceremonies, and some belts are sacred to the Longhouse religion. The shells are a by-product of an edible, commercially farmed clam.