The Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma was the richest source of pre-Columbian shell engravings in North America, a treasury of early native American artistry. From about 1250 AD until the early part of this century, it remained virtually undisturbed, but in 1933, it was plundered by commercial diggers. The fragments of the shell cups and gorgets became widely scattered, as museums and private collectors sought to acquire them. It is only through the publication of this work that the pieces have been put back together.

These lavishly illustrated volumes showcase the variety of iconography and of the engravers.

The Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma was the richest source of pre-Columbian shell engravings in North America, a treasury of early native American artistry. From about A.D. 1250 until the early part of this century, it remained virtually undisturbed, but in 1933, it was plundered by commercial diggers. The fragments of the shell cups and gorgets became widely scattered, as museums and private collectors sought to acquire them. It is only through the publication of this work that the pieces have been put back together and that the variety of iconography and the skill of the engravers can be appraised.

Unequaled in North America as a single source of prehistoric figurative and decorative art, the Craig burial mound was plundered by commercial diggers in 1933. Hundreds of fragile shell artifacts covered with engraved designs were quickly sold and, whole or fragmented, were scattered in public and private collections across the country.

For the past ten years, Dr. Philip Phillips, Honorary Curator of Southeastern Archaeology at Harvard, has supervised a massive project that has involved making rubbings and line drawings of this whole corpus of Southeastern Indian art, matching hundreds of fragments, and classifying the engraved designs by schools.

Volume VI, the last volume of the set, deals with the final phase of the Craig style, then concludes with a summary of the study, a bibliography, and an extensive index.