From English Camp to Bible Camp to Spirit Camp: Ground stone disk beads in the Salish Sea

Coast Salish conceptions of wealth revolve around the idea of appropriateness of wealth. Using wealth in a prescribed manner means maintenance of status for an individual. Inappropriate uses and displays of wealth lead to questioning of status. Ground stone disk beads are an abundant wealth item from the Salish Sea region. Despite their ubiquity in archaeological assemblages, little research has been done on these types of beads outside of site-specific studies. These site-specific studies present myopic interpretations, which do not consider how these beads function within Coast Salish society. Exploring the functional social role and the appropriate uses of these beads places them within a specific context in the Coast Salish cultural framework. Investigating the social role of these beads is done through examining the distribution in the recovered context of beads across the Salish Sea region and over time and the material variability of those beads.