These fossil crinoid beads were recovered from the Curry site in Greenwood County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1984. Crinoids were marine animals that lived in the shallow sea that covered Kansas over 245 million years ago. The bead maker would have drilled the center out of the bead prior to threading them into a necklace or sewing them onto clothing. The Curry site was a multicomponent (multiple occupations) site occupied periodically during the Archaic, Early Ceramic and Middle Ceramic periods.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Fossil Crinoid Beads from the Curry Site, 14GR301 - 1