Many of the artifacts on the above mentioned page have the gleam of mother of pearl. Can anyone tell what kind of shell(s) were used for the objects on this page?
This site also has a page on beads. The Mississippian culture collected and highly valued freshwater pearls among other stones, metals, mica, and beads. Some mounds had buckets of fw pearls stashed.
BTW This culture's importance is vastly underappreciated in anthropological, archeological, and historical circles, yet it was part of the largest major culture area of the US. I have alweays been struck by the many similarities of the architecture and artifacts of these cultures with those of central Mexico.
http://www.mississippian-artifacts.com/ choose "beads" from the menu on right.