Pacific Northwest Indian Jewelry

Many have experienced the gorgeous precious jewelry produced by the local people of the US Southwest. By contrast, the unique precious jewelry regarding the Northwest Coast, though extremely prized by those in the know, is less familiar on general population. I really hope that brief article will help jewellery lovers learn how to recognize and value this excellent talent.

Raven Transforming. Bracelet by Don Yeomans, 1992. Haida-Cree-Metìs. From "us Indian Jewelry and Adornment" by Lois Shurr Dubin.

Modern Northwest Coast Indian jewellery developed as an all-natural expansion of the native art forms of the location. The geographical location being discussed could be the northernmost achieves regarding the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, Vancouver Island, and Coastal British Columbia expanding almost to the Alaska border. ahead of the coming regarding the European individuals this area was house to numerous tribal teams with commonly varying languages and traditions, yet bound by a larger culture. These tribal teams are identified by many names including Coast Salish, Haida, Tlingit, Makah, yet others (1). In Canada the indigenous tribal teams tend to be collectively called First Nations, just like these are generally referred to as local Us americans in america. Whenever discussing their particular precious jewelry, but Indian remains the essential popular language.

The Northwest Coastal individuals lived in a tremendously wealthy ecosystem, in which thick primeval forests found the sea. Food was plentiful, and though these people did engage in some small-scale farming, the abundance for the area effortlessly met their needs without huge reliance on cultivated plants. Seafood, specially salmon, had been a mainstay of these diets, with online game through the forest and wild plants, including fruits. They hunted whales using powerful sea-going canoes and journeyed commonly through the region, trading along with other groups as asia as Great Plains so when far south as Ca. They lived in villages of ornately decorated wood domiciles, often with totem poles close to the home determining clan affiliations. Clothing ended up being made not only from furs and addressed hides, but also from carefully worked and woven cedar bark and from wool of hill goats. Theirs had been the biggest focus of non-agricultural people ever before to exist, with a culture regarded as have-been more advanced in united states, using the feasible exception of some in Mexico (1, 2).