| Native American Tribes Overview: Their Culture and History Page 1 Page 2 (Photos Courtesy of Denver Museum Digital Archive and Library of Congress) Santo Domingo Indians: The Santo Domingo Pueblo is situated approximately midway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, on the banks of the Rio Grande. By 1591 the Santo Domingo ancestors had settled close to the present location to farm, but the original site flooded, and the pueblo was moved several times before it was established at its present site by the end of the sixteenth century, still near the river and desirable farmland, but on higher ground. While the location was chosen for its farming potential, other geographical factors influenced the future of the people and their art, for the pueblo is approximately thirty miles from the Cerrillos turquoise mines, which were active from about AD 1000 until the 1930s, and also near a large deposit of gypsum, both of which were used in their jewelry. The Santo Domingo have the longest jewelry-making tradition of any of the pueblos, and still make jewelry using the traditional techniques and many of the same materials used by their ancestors. This cannot be said of other Native American jewelers, who incorporated techniques they learned from other cultures, most importantly silversmithing, introduced by Mexican silversmiths and later taught at Indian schools and in the "factories" that stocked the curio shops frequented by tourists to the Southwest. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, jewelry making was the main source of income for many families within the pueblo, and several sources indicate that most families were involved in jewelry making at some time during this period.In fact, often all members of a family were involved in making jewelry, with different members having different skills or responsibilities. Buy Heishi Necklaces A large part of the jewelry made by the Santo Domingo consists of the strings of beads called heishi (which means "rolled beads"), originally made from shell and local stones such as turquoise, although by about 1900 coral had also become popular. These necklaces and a type of earrings called jaclas, which consisted of short loops of turquoise heishi (often combined with coral beads), were extremely valuable as trade material, and the Santo Domingo exchanged or sold them for almost everything they needed. Many early photographs of Indians from other tribes from the region show them wearing strings of Santo Domingo turquoise or shell heishi. In addition to making heishi necklaces and jaclas for trade, the Santo Domingo developed ceremonial jewelry for their own use. Made from large shells -- usually reddish spiny oyster shells acquired by trading with other tribes -- the pendants bore geometric mosaic patterns formed from small pieces of turquoise, jet, and shell. Although they were originally made for use in the pueblo's traditional Corn Dance, similar pendants are made for sale. Another style of Santo Domingo necklace consists of tear-shaped "tabs" strung on heishi. The tabs were made from bone overlaid in the traditional mosaic style with bits of turquoise, jet, and shell. These necklaces are also sometimes identified as Depression jewelry, but they were certainly made earlier than that. We have found a photograph documenting their use in 1925. Santo Domingo Indian Rituals and Dances- Did they change after tourist influences? For the most part, Santo Domingo jewelry was not affected by contact with other cultures, until the twentieth century, when economic conditions made it difficult to get the shell and bone needed to make heishi and the traditional Santo Domingo tabs and ceremonial pendants. They found in gypsum, the soft whitish stone from a deposit near the pueblo, a substitute for the more expensive materials they had used previously to make heishi. The heishi made from gypsum are longer than those made from shell, and more closely resemble earlier tubular stone beads used by their ancestors. In a few instances they also used gypsum as a substitute for the bone backing of tabs and pendants, but oral tradition relates that this is also when they discovered they could use the plastic from discarded car batteries, which could be worked with simple tools, as a backing. According to oral tradition, in the late 1920s or early 1930s the Santo Domingo began to create necklaces with thunderbird pendants to appeal to tourists. The earliest document we have found of their use is a photograph published in Pedro Lemos's Indian Arts, Pueblo and Navajo in 1932. Importantly, birds were the only life form the Santo Domingo were allowed by the traditions of their pueblo to use to decorate their pottery and jewelry. However, within that restriction, they created a great variety of bird images. Most represent the thunderbird, a motif the Harvey Company claimed was derived from Native American pictographs, which they modified and copyrighted in 1909. It was popular on Harvey style jewelry, and the Santo Domingo would have seen it worn by tourists and displayed in trading posts and curio shops throughout the Southwest. In shape the Santo Domingo thunderbirds often resemble eagles on American and Mexican coins and military insignia, but the decoration is carried out in their traditional mosaic technique, albeit substituting plastic for more expensive materials. In addition to salvaged turquoise chips, they used red plastic to imitate coral and the reddish spiny oyster shell; white plastic to replace the white shell, black plastic instead of jet, and occasionally other colors such as yellow. On a small number of pieces, the decoration is executed entirely in turquoise chips. More on the Development of Santo Domingo Indian Jewelry Zuni Indian Jewelry Like many other early Americans, the Zuni people lived sedentary lives. They built stone and adobe houses, farmed, hunted and pursued craft production, whether in the making of baskets, weaving or brocading fabrics. They also fashioned technically and aesthetically accomplished functional handbuilt pots from the abundantly available clay. All such activities are reflected in the decoration applied to the pots, carried out with finely ground minerals. Information About Zuni Culture and History Much of the decoration, mostly abstract, recalls the patterns achieved through weaving and basketry, but here are related to the three-dimensional form. One of the most famous designs is that of the 'heart-line deer', in which a stylised deer or similar animal, complete with antlers, has a line from the mouth to the heart. While the significance today is not clear, it may have represented the 'sacred breath of life'. Zuni carved stone animals are beautiful, highly sought after and small, most fit easily in the palm of the hand. The Zuni are centered in New Mexico's Zuni River Valley, west of Albuquerque, near the Arizona border. The land might never have been noticed by outsiders, except that in 1539, Spanish explorers decided that the Hawikuh pueblo was one of the Seven Cities of Cibola, a city of gold. This did not do the locals any favors. But today Zuni Pueblo is one of the most traditional Native American areas left in the state, with an economy largely supported by the arts. Zuni carved animals can be made of anything from shell and antler to cornhusks, and are added to enhance necklaces. Most on the market are of stone, frequently decorated with string, feathers or beads. Above: Zuni Wearing Carved Stone Necklace 1903. Buy Zuni Jewelry More on Zuni Indian Jewelry Development What separates from other carvings is their use and power. A carving is decoration; a animal symbol offers a connection to the larger world. Through a stone carved like a bear, one comes into contact with Bear, the embodiment of strength and introspection. Whether known as animals, charms, amulets, or talismans, these small objects, usually representing an animal, have existed since the earliest days of the Pueblo peoples. At first, concretions, or stones, naturally suggestive of an animal's shape were carried for power or protection. Carving was added to embellish or emphasize the animal form. With anthropological research in the late nineteenth century and growing market appreciation throughout the twentieth, the carving of stone animals has become a serious and successful art form. While many Native American tribes produce and use carvings, the most renowned carvers are undoubtedly the Zuni. This skill has been honed in artistic apprenticeships within family groups, and is derived from spiritual beliefs found in the Zuni creation story. Zuni believe that the world was originally covered by water. The First Twins created lightning and a great fire to dry the land. To keep humans safe, predators were struck by the lightning and turned to stone. Deep within, the animals' hearts were kept alive, with instructions to help humankind with the magic captured in their hearts. This spirit is often represented by a "heart line," also called "spirit line" or "breath line." The heart line may be carved, inlaid, or painted. Another spiritual aspect of some stone carving is the bundle offering attached with animal sinew. Arrowheads are common in bundles and offer protection to both the stone symbol and its owner. Although these figures are generally referred to as religious symbols, it is important to recognize that objects offered for sale are carvings, as opposed to religious images. None have been blessed by the Zuni Medicine Society. Materials are a significant choice for carvers. Availability and workability are practical factors. Early carvings were from local stone, but today's market provides a wealth of choices from around the world. Color is a key spiritual and/or aesthetic element. In the latter sense, an artist may choose a color that represents the animal's natural color or may opt for a hue based on personal or patron's preference. A very popular and fairly recent stone choice is a marble found in Utah, which is called "Picasso" for its artistic patterns of brown, tan, gray, white, and black. Among a wide variety of materials, serpentine and turquoise are other frequently carved Zuni Working With Stone 1945 stones, and antler, bone, wood, and shells are also used. Cherokee Indian Culture and Jewelry |
| Wampum Iroquois Indians- The Cherokee The video above is a glimpse at the "Trail of Tears" which has influenced the Cherokees in everything they have done since. As the eighteenth century opened, the impact of European trade in the piedmont of what is now the Carolinas and Georgia could be seen in the number of Native American children of mixed parentage, alcoholism among the natives, and the devastation caused by European-introduced diseases, especially smallpox. Not all effects of European trade were negative, however. Most fascinating for textile enthusiasts perhaps is how acquisition of European goods and technologies transformed native dress and embellishment. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Southeast obtained their decorative materials from nature: beads made from white and purple-black seashells were threaded onto a thong, length of sinew, or string, then combined to make belts, bracelets, and collars. The dark and light beads were arranged to form designs, many of which probably had social, political, or religious significance. Beads also were made from turkey bones and the bones and antlers of deer; some groups strung bear claws and teeth to make necklaces. Coastal and inland groups had traded beads before European contact. After contact, wampum (from the Narragansett word for white shell beads) increasingly was used for gift exchange and formal currency between Europeans and natives. The long wide belts of wampum that we associate today with the conclusion of treaty negotiations probably were not produced by Native Americans until after European contact, although the techniques used to assemble the belts--finger weaving or a simple bow loom, were practiced precontact. More About Cherokee Indian Beadwork Other natural decorative materials that predated contact included porcupine quills. Colored blue, red, yellow, and black with vegetable dyes, they were used to embellish clothing, accessories, and especially moccasins. Trade in deerskins by the Cherokee with the English began in the seventeenth century and increased in the eighteenth when a deadly cattle plague in Europe caused Britain to ban imports of cattle and hides from Europe. The English used the American deerskins for harnesses, saddles, gloves and shoes, men's clothing, and bookbindings. In exchange for the tens of thousands of deerskins that Cherokee Indians annually traded to the merchants of Charleston, South Carolina, they received guns and ammunition; ready-made clothing and shoes; blankets; imported cotton, linen, woolen, and silk yardage; tools including knives and scissors; and rum. Textiles had become staple goods in native cultures, used to augment or replace parts of traditional native deerskin attire. They included coarse woolen stroud and duffel fabrics and blankets; plain, figured, and striped cotton calicoes; coarse and fine linen; ready-made shirts, hose, and worsted caps; and bindings, garters, ribbons, and tapes. The Cherokee were discriminating shoppers. For example, some purchased large blue and red glass beads whereas others preferred small black and white ones. As the Philadelphia merchant James Logan emphasized to his English factor in 1714, stroud intended for trade to Native Americans should be colored blue or red. Attention should be paid to the salvedge edges "about which the Indian are Curious [i.e., exacting]. This is of the common breadth viz. about 3 fingers with a Stripe or two of white generally. Sometimes in black in ye blue pcs. And always black in ye red."& Buy Cherokee Jewelry Cherokee Indian Trail of Tears For Americans, the Cherokees stood in the way of the relentless westward push of the energetic American republic. Some Cherokees had voluntarily moved west in the years 1815 to 1820. Eventually, rumors of gold in the Cherokee lands gave that Indian fighter, President Andrew Jackson, the excuse he had wanted. His own version of a final solution of the Indian problem consisted of rounding up the entire nation, usually at the point of a bayonet, herding the members in¬to camps and shipping them west under the U.S. Army's supervision. Cherokees, those starving, bedraggled refugees from homes in Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia, did not come west planning to build the city of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. After all, they had been the most advanced native Americans east of the Mississippi. Their great chief, Sequoyah, had given them an alphabet of their own. They welcomed various Christian missionaries, had a democratic government, and many owned vast plantations. Museum ethnologist James Mooney came to Tahlequah in the 1880s to interview the Cherokees he discovered that the lapse of half a century had not sufficed to wipe out the memories of the January 1839 march during which 30 percent of the tribe died, including Chief John Ross* wife, Quatie. The Cherokees called it "The Trail Where They Cried," called today "The Trail of Tears." A Cherokee Indian Woman, 1900 Cherokee Couple Waiting For Ritual Cherokee Medicine Man |
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