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Reprinted from American Indian Tradition, Volume 8, Number 1, 1961
Necklaces made up of the claws of the grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis) had a wide distribution in the United States. We find some use of the claws for ornament in all of the culture areas in the country, however, they seem most common in the Central Woodland area and Plains. In spite of the wide distribution, grizzly claw necklaces were apparently never very numerous within any one tribe because of the difficulty in obtaining the claws. When claws were obtainable they were always highly valued and much sought after as ornament and emblem of valor.
The use of grizzly claws are not a recent development. Many bones of claws have been uncovered from Mound Builder sites in Ohio. In addition Mound Builder sites have yielded imitation claws of elk horn, copper, and even mica; which would seem to indicate that claws were just as valuable and difficult to obtain in Mound Builder times as they are today. Claws have also been found in Archeological excavations on the Plains as at the Mobridge site on the Missouri River.1
Claw necklaces are also shown in illustrations by early artists such as Rindisbacher, Catlin, Bodmer, etc., and the use of claw necklaces are mentioned in many early journals. So that it is safe to assume that they had not only a wide distribution, but an early one as well.
Early writers mention the difficulty of obtaining the claws, even at a time when these animanls were abundant. Tixier, writing during the 1838-40 period, says; "This famous grizzly bear is so ferocious that when the Osage wish to attack it they raise a war party often fifty men strong. To kill one of these animals is a deed very highly thought of by the redskins. The victorious hunter is entitled to wear a necklace made with its claws. This ornament is very highly prized by the savages. I have seen in Saint Louis a Sac refuse a large sum of money offered for one of these ornaments."2 In a similar vein Alanson Skinner mentions that an old Sauk once told him; "that they had but two ways of obtaining the coveted talons. The first, and most obvious way,...