Jewelry

     Going back to as early as 300 BC, near the Salt and Gila rivers in what is now southern Arizona, the Hohokam Culture had its beginnings. The making of personal objects for adornment had been in existence for some time and was a major "industry" among the people indigenous to the area. All of the members of the tribes wore a variety of jewelry fashioned from bone, shell, turquoise, and other materials: bracelets, pendants, earrings, rings, and beads.

     Sea shells were used quite often. One of the most preferred shells that the indigenous peoples used to fashion their jewelry was a marine bivalve called Glycymeris. It was brought in to the area by either trade with the population that lived in the area surrounding the Gulf of California or in travels to that region to collect the shells themselves. After the shell halves were separated, the central portion of one of the shell halves were cut or broken out. This would leave the remaining rim. The outside edges would then be ground down to make a bracelet.

     Pendants and charms were also common from these early times as simple pieces of turquoise or carved bone, or simple shells that had holes drilled into them. Elaborately carved figurines soon appeared, such as the Hohokam's frog, with eyes of inlaid turquoise. Early techniques of creating jewelry also included overlaying a shell or piece of bone with beautifully shaped pieces of turquoise or other stones to create a mosaic, which was held together with pine pitch.

     From the Hohokam, jewelry-making techniques and materials spread quickly to the north and to the east. Shells were imported from the Pacific, these included the abalone and spiny oyster. These two shells were added as raw materials to be used for the fashioning of jewelry and remain favorites to this day. Multi-colored stones and minerals have become widely used. Stones of argillite, banded travertine, and many other semi-precious minerals were used with great skill to make objects of adornment. From those ancient times until the present, all types of jewelry has been imported, made, traded, and worn throughout the Southwest for various purposes.

     Drilling such materials, several of which were very difficult to cut and drill, was of course a time-consuming process. The process of hand drilling was accomplished by one of three methods: the first involved having a drill point attached to a straight shaft and rotated back and forth between the palms of both hands. A more efficient method was something called a "pump" drill, in which the vertical pumping of a crossbar caused leather ropes to unwind and wind up, thus turning the drill bit. Lastly, was the ‘bow drill’, it was similar to the pump drill, but used a sideways motion of a bow with a bowstring looped around the vertical shaft to produce the drill to rotate.
     Many of these and other old jewelry styles and jewelry-making methods are still in use today.

     Not all Indians make silver and turquoise jewelry. The Indians in the Southwest who are known for their jewelry are the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo peoples. The Zuni are known for their very intricate stonework and almost never do plain silver jewelry. The most traditional Zuni style of jewelry is called petit point, which can be identified by tiny turquoise stones each supported in its own bezel. It is extremely time consuming to make and is very delicate in appearance. The Zunis are known for using sterling silver and natural turquoise from the Sleeping Beauty Mine.

     The Zunis are also famous for a particular type of stonework called inlay. Here again, stones are worked and then fit together, sometimes side by side, called stone-to-stone, or with silver channels in between, known as channel inlay. The Zunis do not cast the silver. Each piece is meticulously fabricated. The predominant colors and stones used in traditional Zuni inlay are turquoise, red coral, black jet, and white mother of pearl. Symbolically, red represents Mother Earth and turquoise, Father Sky. The black and white of the other stones is a further representation of dualities. Other stones that may be used in Zuni jewelry are pink coral, abalone, green snail shell, orange or purple spiny oyster, melon shell, and fossilized ivory. Most materials used in Zuni fetishes and jewelry are not indigenous to Zuni Pueblo.

     We represent your attention only small part from set of models of the jewelry which were created by the true Native American craftsmen.