| NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY |
| Back to the earth, back to nature: this is the appeal of Native American jewelry, plain or fancy. Even the most sophisticated Navajo silver engraving radiates intense, earthy vitality. A Zuni or Santo Domingo Native American necklace is adorned with symbols that leap with life: bears, birds, jumping spirits, running animals, and charging warriors adapted from ancient pictographs found in the Southwestern desert. Bone and hairpipe beads shield the Apache warrior, while the Cherokee weave flowers in beds of seed beads. |
Carved shapes selected to adorn Native American jewelry have symbolic meaning embedded in tribal culture. Symbols come from everyday images:
spirit Gods, the sun, moon, animals, and plants
such as squash blossoms. See "Symbolism" at
left.
spirit Gods, the sun, moon, animals, and plants
such as squash blossoms. See "Symbolism" at
left.
| OVERVIEW AND TRENDS IN NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY Copyright 2010 all content How long ago did Native Americans begin making native jewelry? Answer: Native American beads were found through excavations of Eastern sites dated over 2000 years ago. This shows that jewelry making among some American Indian tribes is a very old craft, and it has changed dramatically over time, especially in the last half of the 20th century. New jewelry designs, jewelry making methods, and raw jewelry materials came into use in the last 100 years. Most of the jewelry produced in the 20th century was made by the Southwest jewelry making tribes of Hopi, Zuni, Navajo and Rio Grande Pueblo People. However, Native jewelry makers today represent a cross section of tribes from Alaska to the Southwest and all points east. Jewelry makers are no longer held to traditional tribal jewelry styles, tightly bound by the past, or constrained by limited resources or technology. Now, they can work in a constantly evolving jewelry art form, which invents new native jewelry designs and freely borrows ideas from other jewelry making tribes. However, this was not always the case. American Indian artforms had been bound and shaped by their way of life, and the output was determined by the resources and technology that artists had available at the time. Historical events experienced by each tribe provided the symbols important to that tribe and therefore became the symbols used in their artforms. LIFESTYLES, RESOURCES AND NATIVE JEWELRY MAKING TECHNOLOGY EFFECTED JEWELRY MAKING All Native American tribes created art and jewelry, but those who produced a large amount of intricate art forms generally led more sedentary, farming lifestyles. They had the free time to allow artistic tribal members to pursue their work full-time. But these artists were limited by the resources and technology available with which to create their designs, and historical events determined the symbols they used. Example of How Native Jewelry Making Technology Effected Designs Certain jewelry making techniques have withstood the test of time. The Navajo silversmiths learned how to melt and cast silver shapes from the Mexican silvermiths, and Navajo jewelry artisans today continue to use sand casting and engraving to produce silver jewelry designs. They began sand casting silver jewelry around 1875. The silver was melted and then poured into a mold, which was carved from sandstone. Cooled and set, the jewelry piece requires a great deal of filing and smoothing. Sometimes, Navajo Indian jewelry makers used both techniques in one jewelry piece, casting the silver design and then engraving it with symbols. Scarcity of Resources Effected Native Jewelry Designs We think of Navajo jewelry as always having lots of turquoise among its elaborately engraved silver. Yet, jewelry made in the early times had simple designs made mostly of silver and without the large turquoise nuggets we associate with the Navajo. Turquoise was scarce, limiting its use in jewelry. Before 1875, Navajo silver jewelry decorations had been shaped into silver using dies or punches. The design selected for the silver piece was borrowed from Mexican leather tooling styles. The Navajo Native American ingenuity merely transferred what the Mexicans had done in leather to their own specialty of using silver in creating jewelry. They obtained silver by melting Mexican and European coins. Although Navajo jewelry makers would engrave symbolic images into their jewelry designs, they are one of the few Native American tribes whose jewelry designs do not have symbolic meaning. Turquoise native jewelry in general has always been closely identified with the Navajo, but it was not until 1880 that Navajo Indian jewelry makers set turquoise stones into silver jewelry pieces. Except for the turquoise used by the early Eastern Native Americans to make wampum, turquoise stone was very scarce and it was not until 1920, before it became readily available for making jewelry in the Southwest as the mining industry became active. This is why early Navajo antique jewelry has only a few stones in each necklace. LIMITATIONS ON CREATIVITY Creative output is limited by environmental conditions and the style of the tribe's adjustment to it. Southwestern Native Americans had an arid climate to contend with, but many tribes discovered how to farm crops, which gave some of their people the time to devote to making native jewelry and kachina art. By planting crops and raising livestock for food they could settle in one place, instead of roaming the southwest in search of food as they had traditionally done. This contributed to their ability and desire to create jewelry, kachina dolls and pottery in large numbers, because it could be carefully stored, protected and cherished. In contrast, the Plains Native Americans were migratory and made sturdy, lightweight objects of hide. They decorated them with porcupine quills, and later, small glass beads. Their artistic endeavor was limited by their hunting and gathering lifestyle, because it required them to be migratory. They had to create art objects that were useful and could be carried when the buffalo herds moved to greener grasses. Buffalo meat, skin and bone were their most important resources and it composed their artforms. The Northwest Coast Native Americans fished the rivers and ocean shores and gathered plants and berries. Their forested environment gave them plenty of wood to carve artistic items. They carved beautiful totem poles, feast bowls and knife handles. These items were imbued with spiritual symbols and religious meaning. Growing American Encroachment Effected The Creative Output Of Some Tribes Northeastern and Southeastern Native Americans were very artistic People, but their societies were constantly being decimated by the encroaching European settlers who pushed them further to the southeast, eventually moving them to reservations. The Cherokee actually stopped doing art and beadwork when U. S. troops forcibly moved them in 1838, to a reservation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). They suffered the trauma and deaths of nearly a third of their People during the march called "Trail of Tears." Happily, Cherokee jewelry makers had resumed creating their beautiful beadwork by the 1950's and are very active making beautiful native jewelry and art today. Historical Events Effected Design Styles Not surprisingly, tear drop shapes are common in Cherokee jewelry, and a seed called "Corn Tears" or Job's Tears" is commonly used in Cherokee necklaces. It is said that as Cherokee women walked and cried along the "The Trail," they saw tear drops hanging from corn plants. In actuality, they were the seed pods that hang from the tops of a wild Asian grain that grew along "The Trail." See our Cherokee "Corn Tears" necklaces in the store above. The rose symbol is also favored in Cherokee jewelry designs. A Cherokee story tells us that the spot where tears fell along "The Trail," as the women cried for those who died, a rose began to sprout in its place. The wild "Cherokee Rose" still grows along the route of the "Trail of Tears." Along with beadwork jewelry, Cherokee Native Americans also produce beautiful wood carving and baskets. Following the move to the Indian Territory Reservation, the Cherokee had to follow a sedentary lifestyle. They began to actively build a new society following American ways of life. This eventually gave them more leisure time to pursue artistic endeavors. Increasing Sedentary Lifestyle Contributed To The Growing Production Of Artforms Native American tribes who abandoned the "hunting and gathering" method of obtaining food and other necessities produced an increasing amount of intricate art forms. They had the free time to allow artistic tribal members to pursue their work full-time. This was important to the development of tribal Indian jewelry and art. Southwestern Native Americans produced many types of creative objects, with kachina dolls, jewelry and pottery becoming the prominent art activity. One of the most beloved artistic pastimes for the Hopi, Zuni, Apache and Navajo tribes was to create the dolls for children of the tribe. They are made in the image of Kachina Spirits whom they worship as Gods. Kachina Dolls A kachina is a spirit being who is impersonated by a Hopi Indian wearing a mask. Kachina dolls are made in the image of the kachina spirit and are used to teach tribal beliefs to children. When a Native American Indian puts on a kachina mask, he believes he has become one with the spirit. It is deemed important to participate in ceremonial dances, which guarantees the survival of the Hopi People. Hopi and Zuni People both celebrate rituals concerning children at an annual festival. Kachina masks are sometimes very frightening, scaring children into good behavior. The kachinas distribute sweets and toys like bows and arrows to boys and kachina dolls to girls. The dolls, which are actually works of art, are given to infants of both sexes as good-luck symbols. After babyhood is far behind, only girls receive kachina dolls. As infants, a kachina is attached to the cradle board and is made simply. As the girl grows older, they are given more elaborate dolls during kachina ceremonies. These are often hung from the rafters of their homes to remind the girls of their heritage. Kachina dolls are also used to help children learn about different kachina spirits, and to teach them tribal rules they must follow. For example, the Ogre Woman Kachina goes door to door before the Hopi hold the ceremonial bean dance demanding food. The Ogre Woman Kachina spirit will leave the Hopi girl a few kernels of corn and promises to come back for more. When she returns, she asks if the girl has been good. If the reply is “no”, the Ogre Woman Kachina will take the child away. If a firmer threat is needed, the Ogre Woman Kachina spirit will sometimes get mean, pulling children suspected of misbehaving by their feet, with gestures indicating she is going to eat them. Luckily, a relative will always step in to save the child by appeasing the Woman Ogre Kachina spirit with a promise that the child will work hard to help the family grow the needed corn, or the kachina spirit will come back to threaten the child once again. Behind the Kachina Doll Is The Kachina Spirit Beings There is a large class of supernatural spirits numbering over 250. Hopi Native Americans believe that Kachina Spirits live July through January on San Francisco peak and other high mountains in Arizona, and they spend January to July with the tribe in its nine villages in Northeast Arizona. Most of the Kachina spirits can be male or female and are thought to be friendly, helpful beings, but some are ogres and monsters. Importantly, not all Kachina spirits are Supernatural Beings. Over time they have evolved to represent many other facets of Native American life. Kachinas are spirits of departed Native Americans of the particular tribe. For instance, the Cross-Legged kachina doll represents the spirit of a kindly Mishongnovi man who died in 1880. The names for Kachina spirits and their corresponding doll images are frequently descriptive terms, such as Long-Haired Kachina doll, and the Left-Handed Kachina doll. The Hopi Native American name for the Crow Mother, a dour creature with wings on the side of her head is translated “Man with a crow wing tied to. And other dolls are named for birds and mammals, like the Badger kachina, Eagle kachina and Bear kachina dolls. The Art Of Making Kachina Dolls The dolls were created by the Hopi tribal kachina artists using the dried roots of the cottonwood tree. In the past they covered kachinas with a thin white clay and painted using mineral and/or vegetable colors. Today, dolls are still created for children, but they are also elaborately made as contemporary Kachina doll art by master artists like Brian Honyouti of Hotevilla, Arizona and his younger brother, Ronald. They have experimented with many different varnishes, wood preservers, and oil paints to bring their dolls to life. Where before bits of cloth and feathers were attached to the doll, now Kachina craftsmen, like the Honyouti brothers, carve most the parts of the dolls out of wood, although feathers and leather are sometimes added. While traditionally men were the only doll carvers, now women also carve them. Muriel Cainimptewa is one of the finest carvers of miniature dolls (from 3 to 4¼ inches tall). Her creations, and the work of the Honyouti brothers and many other master artists are in museums and private collections around the country. Most kachina dolls are 5 to 14 inches tall. The 3 Basic Types of Kachinas Supernatural Beings- Kachinas of the supernatural type dispense favors to deserving Hopi Indians in the form of physical or spiritual rewards. Human Personification- Hopi Indian tribal men wear costumes and masks to represent a specific kachina spirit whom they want to honor while performing in a ceremony. The Indian dancer becomes the human personification of the spirit during this ceremony. Kachina Dolls or Tihus- For the first ten years of a Hopi girl's life, they receive 2 dolls per year, which are presented to them during ceremonies called the Bean Dance and Home Dance. The Hopi give the dolls to girls, because in their traditional belief system, girls have the least contact with the supernatural. Whereas, men and boys can impersonate kachina spirits in dances and ceremonies, and this makes them into the spirit during the ceremony. This is also why the men carve kachina replicas in their own images, which are given to infants and girls. OVERVIEW OF NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY STYLE BY TRIBE APACHE NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY Apache jewelry is rich in gem stones and precious metals such as silver, gold or platinum. Some Native American jewelry items, especially rings, have intricate engravings of Apache Indian symbols, which when put together will tell a story. The Native American teardrop jewelry style is very popular in Apache jewelry. The use of the tear drop symbol in Apache jewelry comes from a battle fought between the Apache and U. S. Calvary on top of a mountain near Superior, Arizona in 1872. A large contingent of soldiers squared off with 75 Apache braves. Unwilling to surrender, the surrounded Apaches proudly rode their horses off a cliff. When the Apache women learned of the warrior's deaths, they cried for days. As the tears fell to the ground, it is said that they turned to stone in the shape of a teardrop. Onyx or obsidian became common in Apache necklaces and are said to bring good luck to the wearer "forever." Other symbols used by the Apache to make Native American necklaces may include arrowheads and thunder stripes. The most sacred of all native jewelry symbols used by the Apache Indian jewelry artisan is the sacred hoop which represents the Chief. Jewelry made by Native American Apaches may have a symbol worked into precious metal with an inlay of gemstones for the pendant, with beads shaped from wood, shell, bone or nuts. In general, Apache Indian necklaces are usually big and bold with large gemstones, such as turquoise, opal, coral, and magnesite. Wood, shell, nuts and seeds are found in interesting combinations. Bone has long been important and comes from the rib bone chest shields commonly worn by the Apache warrior for protection. Today, it is used in the popular Apache choker necklace. CHEROKEE NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY Jewelry crafted by Cherokee Native Americans has long been made from natural materials found in the Native American tribal environment for thousands of years. The Cherokee Indian jewelry maker has also utilized an unusual variety of jewelry materials in handcrafting their native tribal jewelry designs, including gold, precious and carved beads, semi precious stones, wood, and nuts of all kinds. The symbols used in Cherokee bead and gemstone necklaces come from their experiences during the famous "Trail of Tears," when the Native American Removal Act of 1838, forced the Cherokee Indians to march hundreds of miles to a desolate reservation in Oklahoma Territory. This experience is symbolized in the "Cherokee Rose" and teardrop shaped symbols, especially the use of "Job's tears" or "corn tears" seeds in their jewelry pieces. HOPI NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY Hopi jewelry, kachinas and art are filled with images of the animals and scenery seen in everyday life. This harmony with nature is reflected in the symbols used in their dances, rituals, art, and native jewelry. Water is frequently symbolized in their Indian jewelry, as are turtles, frogs, clouds, rain, lightning, and waves. Fertility and abundance may appear in Native American jewelry as corn, bean sprouts, and other crops in necklaces or pendants. The Hopi spiritual world comes out in their native jewelry as religious symbols, and kachina doll shapes are hung on necklaces to symbolize the benevolent spirit beings who visit the Hopi for about half of every year. They are spirits filled with power and wisdom. Animals also have special powers and abilities for the Hopi Indians and are often portrayed in the jewelry designs. Unknown to most, Hopi Native Americans wore silver jewelry before 1900, but it was not made by their own jewelry makers. Instead, the Hopi traded other tribes to obtain the silver necklaces and rings they liked to wear. In fact, Hopi Native Americans did not use any metal in jewelry, nor did they use metal for tool making. Their native jewelry makers commonly used bone, wood, shell, seeds and gemstones such as turquoise to create necklaces. Hopi Native American men had been very good at fashioning intricate masks, as well as complex religious objects for their kachina ceremonies. The Hopi men also did all of the weaving necessary to furnish their Native American households with textiles. And because the majority of Native American women still wore traditional dresses required for the religious dances, hand-woven garments had to be continuously made. They got very good at making beautiful garments. The Hopi People began to trade their beautiful woven pieces with the other Pueblo Indian tribes, and in return, they were given silver jewelry which had been made by the Navajo, Zuni, Apache, and other Native American jewelry makers. Because the Hopi loved silver jewelry, by 1906 they began to learn how to work silver, which they obtained from other tribes. It was not easy for them because their Native American jewelry makers were used to making jewelry from shell and turquoise. They were not experienced in working metal or making metal jewelry. For the next thirty years Hopi Tribal Indian jewelry makers continued working at it until they got really good. They incorporated elements of the Plains Indian jewelry making methods, as well as Spanish metal and leather jewelry work. Being very innovative People, the Hopi eventually developed their own native jewelry motifs and styles. Happily, since about 1940, Hopi Native Peoples jewelry makers have perfected silver jewelry, especially the pomegranate flower bead, commonly called 'squash blossom' jewelry in the region. The Spanish-Moorish jewelry artisan influence is visible in Hopi Indian jewelry designs especially in the crescent or half-moon shape of the naja, the jewelry pendant used as the central medallion on squash blossom necklaces and as a decoration along with shell shapes on bridles. Native American silver jewelry makers throughout the Southwest have strung silver concha shapes on leather stripping to create what is called a concha belt. It has been especially popular among Hopi Native American silver jewelry makers. The silver jewelry overlay technique was perfected by Hopi Native American silversmiths in the 1940's. This involves using two flat pieces of silver, one of which is oxidized to a darker color. The top shiny piece has a design cut out of it and is highly polished. This allows the darkened bottom silver piece to come through. It has become the Hallmark of Hopi Native American jewelry. NAVAJO NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY Navajo silver and turquoise jewelry is internationally famous for its unique design and skilled craftsmanship. Navajo Native Americans began working with silver to make jewelry around 1853, when Atsidi Sani met a Mexican silversmith who came to Fort Defiance near the Navajo village in Arizona. Atsidi, a Navajo, began to teach other Native American jewelry makers how to work silver to form beautiful silver jewelry, and by 1880, they added turquoise to their creative jewelry designs. The Fred Harvey Company asked Navajo native jewelry makers to make lighter weight jewelry for tourists who frequented their hotels and eating places situated along the southwestern railroad lines. Soon, the company began offering “Indian Tours” for tourists visiting their hotel and eating establishments and this increased interest in all the Native American arts, but especially jewelry and kachina dolls. One of the Navajo Native jewelry artisans' most noted innovation was their development of die stamping for decorative effect in silver jewelry. Many Navajo jewelry silversmiths devised their own handmade stamps, which were often passed down through the generations. The Hallmark of Navajo Indian jewelry is the "Squash Blossom Necklace," which they began to make around 1890, but the design may have been developed by sooner. At first, it was crafted entirely of silver, with turquoise being added into the 1900's. Navajo silver jewelry pieces are set with clusters of turquoise because this material was more available from regional mines, and the Navajo jewelry maker was the first to add turquoise to silver settings for all types of jewelry, especially necklace pendants and rings. SANTO DOMINGO NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY Over the centuries, native jewelry artists of the Santo Domingo Indian Pueblo have elevated stone and metal jewelry and bead-making to a higher level. These jewelry experts are known for their unusual skill at grinding, drilling, and stringing jewelry heishi beads of shell and turquoise into high end Native American necklaces and earrings. Their facility with turquoise jewelry can be seen in the hand-rubbed or hand- rolled strands of fine beads that compose their native jewelry. Necklaces are the predominant form of jewelry created by Santo Domingo jewelry makers. Necklace jewelry designs range from the signature thunderbird necklaces to tab-shaped (elongated and slightly flattened tabular) or tear-shaped pendants made from turquoise, or a combination of materials. ZUNI NATIVE AMERICAN JEWELRY The Zuni Native American jewelry maker's ability to devise jewelry styles and design motifs based on natural forms, has given rise to some of the most popular types of Indian Peoples jewelry available today. From carved animal stones set in silver or strung on jewelry of colorful representations of animals, birds, plants and Pueblo dancers. Zuni Pueblo jewelry has a style and skilled craftsmanship that has created great demand worldwide for their jewelry pieces. Native tribal Zuni depictions in their jewelry of rainbows and knife-wing deities were popular by the 1940s, and these jewelry symbols were followed by folk recreations of Kachina doll figures, patterned after Hopi jewelry designers. Zuni Native jewelry uses other jewelry symbols, such as sunfaces, Kachinas, and supernatural figures. NEW STUDY SHOWS THAT NATIVE JEWELRY MAKING CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH A recent study supported by the National Institute of Health has found an alarming cause and effect relationship between kidney failure and jewelry making in a Native American tribe. The study by Gonzales, Shah, and Bobelu was prompted by the discovery of a high rate of kidney disease in the Zuni People. Medical researchers wanted to learn if the metals used in native jewelry making was causing kidney damage to Zuni Indian jewelry makers who made jewelry within their homes. The study evaluated the heavy metal concentrations in surface-dust in the homes of 1,500 Zuni jewelry making tribal members, and compared them to non-jewelry making Zuni homes on the reservation in western New Mexico. RESEARCH STUDY FINDING: Conclusion: Jewelry making in these Native American home-based workshops caused kidney damage from exposure to heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium which are used in making native jewelry. They are known to destroy kidney cells. Among the Zuni, the prevalence of end-stage renal disease is 600% higher than in other Native American tribes and 2000% higher than in European American populations. The severity and prevalence of renal disease in this population exceeds that expected from known risk factors such as diabetes. This does not bode well for other jewelry making tribes where jewelry is commonly made within home workshops. Copyright 2010 For detailed information on Native American culture and jewelry with photos and video, use the navigation bar on the left. More great sites: Optical communication, emergent computation, child locator technologies Mini horses Aquarium fish, clown fish and aquarium coral Native art, medicine wheels, native pottery Sacagawea: Her life, death and birth tribe |
| Our Jewelry Artisans Are Descendants of Native American Apache, Cherokee and Pueblo Indians. MOST ARE ON TRIBAL ROLLS. We have provided you with indepth information on Native American jewelry culture and history using scholarly sources and historical photos. SEARCH OUR SITE USING THIS SEARCH TOOL: |
| American Indian Originals Handmade Native American Jewelry P.O. Box 546 Bryn Mawr, CA 92318-0546 indian.jewelry.store@gmail.com Our artisans are descendants of Native Americans belonging to the Cherokee, Apache, Mohawk, and Navajo Indians. They produce the finest jewelry you will find. A highly skilled craft, our Indian designs are made from the highest quality gemstones, shell, crystal, pearls, and metals such as gold, silver, and brass. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |