Native American Jewelry
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Contents |
Origin
- The origins of Indian jewelry predate the arrival of the people historians now describe as Native Americans or American Indians. Archeological evidence supports the theory that stones, which include turquoise, shells, and carved fetishes, predate the Christian epoch. Turquoise that was found in Hohokam excavations in southern Arizona has dated back to 200 B.C., in central Mexico approximately 600-700 B.C., and in South America about 900 B.C.
Old Pawn Jewelry
- Some people like to compare "old pawn" with the jewelry being made today. They say "Old pawn is better than new jewelry." It's a matter of taste. Some of the techniques being used today are far superior to the techniques that were used in the past. Now we make highly refined items, beautifully decorated with polished turquoise and other precious stones, even using diamonds, rubies, emeralds, star saphires, ivory, coral, onyx, Lapis, Obsidian, and iron wood from Southwern Arizona just to name a few.
History
- It has been said that the Native Americans started making Jewelry at the turn of the century when the Spaniards came, making jewelry, ornaments for their horses and trinkets for barter. If we go back into the discoveries made by anthropologist who dug up many ruins throughout the Southwest, we find signifigant pieces of shell, stone and bone. In Arizona this jewelry dated back to year one A.D., during the Hohokam era. : Gold and : silver were worked by the Native Americans in Mexico, Central and South America, so it is really hard to put a date on just when the Native American started making jewelry. Some authorities will say the 1870's some the 1890's. Over the past 40 years there has been "new art" out of the "old art".
- During World War II, money was hard to come by for the Native American whose income at the time was less than $300 a year on the reservation. Turquoise was scarce and very expensive, so petrified wood was used because it was readily available and the Native American could find it on the reservation. Cutting was difficult in those days. They had to use hammers to flake off the petrified wood and then grind it with an old hand cranked grinding wheel. Polishing was the most difficult because electricity was not available. The silversmiths would hone the stone down on a piece of buckskin with wood-ash grit, and the finishing polish was done by using natural facial oils and rubbing it on pants for hours to achieve a sheen. Even then it was dull. These are some of the old methods that were used and certainly not to be laughed at just because they were crude and primitive. It was at that time that they were first coming into the "new jewelry".
Semi-Precious Stones
- If you look at the jewelry recieved by museums forty-five years ago, then look at the pieces they are recieving today, you will see that there has been an improvement in the quality in Native American jewelry all along the lines. The Navajo technique used both hammered silver and heavy clustered turquoise. This was probably the earliest recorded concept in jewelry design. Now the Navajo have progressed into finer pieces where they have highly cut stones and cabachons.
- There are people today who say that a lot of the stones are by non Native American. This really doesn't make that much difference since most other jewelry makers around the world do not cut their own diamonds and emeralds. Another thing, there is not electricity on all parts of the reservation. Therefore, for Native American to continue making jewelry, and since the general public demands high quality, Native Americans do buy a lot of pre-cut turquoise. There are many good stones today, however, that are cut by very fine Native American Artists.
Turquoise
- There are many legends about Turquoise; The Pima consider it to bring good fortune and strength and believe that it helps overcome illness. The Zuni believe that blue turquoise was male and of the sky and green turquoise was female and of the earth. Pueblo Indians thought that its color was stolen from the sky. In Hopi legend the lizard who travels between the above and the below, excretes turquoise and that the stone can hold back floods. The Apache felt that turquoise on a gun or bow made it shoot straight. The Navajo consider it as good fortune to wear and believe it could appease the Wind Spirit.
Coral
- There are four types of precious coral in Hawaii: black coral (Antipathidae), gold coral (Parazoanthidae), red or pink coral (Corallidae) and bamboo coral. Each of these has a different internal composition. Red and pink corals produce a calcite skeleton similar in hardness to ivory and pearls. Bamboo corals, on the other hand, produce a skeleton composed partially of calcite and partially of protein that is similar to the keratin in your fingernails. These alternating bands of material resemble a bamboo stalk; thus the corals' name. In Hawaii, black corals are found in 100-300 ft. of water, shallow enough to harvest using scuba equipment. Many harvesters, however, have died in pursuit of coral trees at the deep end of this range. Red, gold and bamboo coral are found between 1,000 and 1,500 ft; so harvesting is conducted with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) or submarines.
Silversmithing
- There fewer silversmiths coming along now than there were fifty years ago. This is caused by industry coming onto the reservations and assimilating Native Americans into the mainstream of American society. Native Americans go off to variuos metropolitan areas and work in factories and do other things to earn more money.
- This is the "New Native American Jewelry of the Southwest". The traditional Native American silversmith can no longer be stereotyped. He/she has branched out into many avenues of jewelry making. They have done a very fine artistic job of this.
Note: Of the 1.2 million Native Americans in the USA today only about 25,000 are silversmiths.
