Rooted in Native American history and culture, the American Indians have made jewelry and adornments throughout their history. The jewelry often reflects cultural diversity and the history of its makers. You can learn about the tribe based on the materials they used. For example, Native Americans in the Southwest often used turquoise in their designs because of the abundance of the stone. The Indians of that region recognized it as a stone that promoted happiness, health and good fortune.
Tribal Designs: Tell History?
Because of trading, it was not uncommon for a tribal group to borrow or copy designs and methods that neighboring nations used. Even today, the practice of borrowing designs continues, and you can learn about the tribe based on their designs and looking at the neighboring tribe’s designs. This could tell you if they traded with them. Lois Sherr Dubin, author of the history of beads, once wrote that in the absence of a written language, adornment became a form of Native American community and conveying information. When Europeans came to the United States, it became a statement of tribal and individual identity, and it showed resistance to the assimilation.
Native American Jewelry: Materials Used
You will find that Native Americans used a variety of materials for their jewelry, which includes:
- Silver
- Hardwoods
- Teeth
- Bones
- Beadwork
- Precious Gemstones
- Shells
Turquoise jewelry in Arizona has been found to date back as far as 200 B.C., and archaeologists have discovered older jewelry in central Mexico estimated to be between 600 to 700 B.C. Knowing the past of Native American jewelry helps you to understand the Indian jewelry styles of today. For example, Native Americans did not start to make a great deal of silver jewelry until the late 1800s when the Spanish came.
Common Themes of Native American Jewelry
While tribes will have varying styles, you can see common elements in Native American jewelry. We talked with Native American Jewelry experts at Coyote’s Game who example, “For example, yarn, sinew and leather have often been turned into patterns or made into clothing, necklaces and bracelets. During the period of the Aztecs, the Native peoples often worked with gold and silver, but metal working was not as common in the earlier years.”
Jewelry Meanings
Many tribes used symbols in their jewelry. For example, Native Americans use a bird to symbolize free of worry, and a snake to symbolize defiance. If you see a feather, it symbolizes the sacred, and the sun symbolizes happiness.
Individual Tribes Known for Certain Types of Jewelry
The Hopi have become renowned for their mastery of silver jewelry. Every Hopi silversmith uses an individual hallmark as their signature. Blackfoot Indians were skilled huntsmen of the buffalo. Blackfoot women prized elk tusks on their dresses, and the men who achieved a level of status wore a grizzly bear paw on a necklace.
Sacred Symbols of Certain Tribes
Native Americans also used jewelry for costumes in the ceremonies they participated in. Oftentimes, you could tell a lot about a tribe based on the jewelry they used in their costumes. You often see sun and water themes in the jewelry, which included a kachina figure. Some people within Hopi culture believed the kachina was a supernatural creature in charge of providing rains.
Native American jewelry often incorporates nature and spirituality into its themes. Jewelry for the Native peoples became a creative form of expression, and it has been a central way of life to the Native Americans for thousands of years. The jewelry is not only beautiful, but it often served a spiritual and meaningful purpose to the tribe.
