The use of turquoise and silver jewelry and artifacts has a long history in Native American culture. Turquoise and silver hold deep symbolic meaning and significance for Southwestern tribes like the Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi peoples. This combination of stones and metal serves purposes beyond simple adornment. The turquoise stone represents life, tranquility, protection, and other sacred attributes. While the shiny, malleable nature of silver carries important values of flexibility, creativity, and conductivity. When combined, these two materials form a powerful spiritual and cultural talisman for many Native peoples. Understanding why turquoise and silver appear so prevalently requires examining the worldviews, oral traditions, and artistic heritage of Southwestern Native American tribes.
Significance of Turquoise for Native Americans
For thousands of years, Native Americans have prized the vivid blue-green hues of turquoise. This hydrous copper aluminum phosphate mineral was mined and fashioned into beads, inlay, mosaic tiles, figurines, jewelry, and other objects. In the Southwestern United States, evidence of turquoise use dates back over 2,000 years. Ancient Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi) of the Four Corners region created turquoise beads, pendants, and inlaid items. The Hohokam and Mogollon cultures in what’s now Arizona also used this striking mineral extensively for adornment and ceremony.
Many tribes ascribe deep symbolic meaning and sacred attributes to the turquoise stone. These include:
– Life – The blue color of sky and water gives turquoise associations with life-sustaining elements. Turquoise adornments promote long life and health.
– Protection – Turquoise has protective powers to ward off evil, injustice, and injury. It provides safety during activities like hunting and warfare. It also protects against environmental dangers like floods or snakes.
– Fertility – The life-giving aspects of turquoise also promote fertility in people, animals, and crops. In Hopi tradition, turquoise represents rain and corn maidens.
– Spiritual connections – Turquoise can connect human beings to spiritual worlds. It may represent the meeting place between sky and earth. It aids in rituals, prayer, and vision quests.
– Peace and wisdom – Turquoise has a tranquil quality that evokes peace, compassion, and wisdom. Elaborate turquoise jewelry may indicate a peaceful chieftain or leader.
– Wealth and status – The difficulty in procuring turquoise made it a prestige item reserved for elite members of society. Turquoise has served as a signifier of wealth, power, and high social status.
– Trade and connections – Turquoise that originated far from its point of use shows evidence of extensive Native American trade networks. Turquoise linked tribes from New Mexico to California.
– Beauty – With a striking color in a desert landscape, turquoise provided an important aesthetic element for southwestern Native peoples. They expressed concepts of harmony, order, and beauty through turquoise.
So turquoise offers Native Americans rich cultural, spiritual, and practical values. Its qualities merge together in the stone, conveying symbolic meaning.
Significance of Silver for Native Americans
Like turquoise, silver holds special significance. As a lustrous white metal, silver represents multiple important concepts to Native Americans throughout North America.
– Flexibility – Since silver is very malleable, it serves as a symbol of adaptability and flexibility. Silver ornaments can be worked into many shapes and forms.
– Creativity – Working silver requires great skill, artistry, and technique. Intricate silverwork shows the Native American spirit of creativity and talented craftsmanship.
– Reflection – Highly polished silver provides an excellent reflective surface. This can serve ritual purposes of transforming or conveying imagery. Mirrored surfaces were spiritually important.
– Conductivity – Silver conducts heat and energy well. This transfer of forces has prompted some tribes to associate silver with magic, protection, and healing.
– Luminescence – When sunlight hits polished silver, it seems to glow with a bright, pure, white light. This luminous quality gives it a sense of warmth and brightness.
– Value – Silver’s desirability and value made it a measure of material worth. Items adorned with silver indicated the owner’s prestige.
– Exchange – Like turquoise, silver artifacts and jewelry provided a portable form of wealth. Items made with silver could be easily transported and traded over vast distances as a compact form of value.
So silver’s flexibility, reflectivity, and conductivity gave it power, making it a perfect complement to turquoise symbolism.
History of Combined Use
Native Americans did not only value turquoise and silver individually. Combining the two materials produced a synergic effect, with the whole surpassing the sum of its parts. Tribes like the Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi developed sophisticated techniques to work turquoise and silver together into jewelry and decorative objects.
This practice originated following the arrival of Europeans to the Southwest via the Spanish Empire. Spain’s colonization introduced several pivotal elements that enabled the rise of turquoise/silver combinations:
| Date | Factor |
| Early 1500s | Discovery of large silver deposits in northern Mexico and what’s now the Southwestern U.S. |
| Mid-1500s | Spaniards begin asserting control over Puebloan tribes and introducing metalsmithing |
| Late 1500s | Pueblo Revolt against Spanish rule temporarily halts metalsmithing |
| 1600s | Spanish redo conquest of Puebloan tribes and reintroduce silversmithing |
| 1700s | Elaboration of silverwork by Navajo, Zuni, Hopi incorporates turquoise |
So the arrival of Spanish settlers brought extensive silver mining and smithing knowledge to the Puebloan tribes of the Southwest. Their desire for turquoise jewelry created demand that sustained silverworking traditions even after tribes like the Navajo migrated away from the Pueblos. The stunning artistry produced over generations combined sacred Southwestern stones with the newly introduced medium of silver.
Traditional Silverworking Techniques
Mastering the craft of working silver into jewelry took great skill and practice. Traditional techniques evolved over centuries of honing this metalsmithing art. BASIC STEPS INCLUDED:
– Obtaining raw silver – Silversmiths obtained silver through trade, raid, gifts, and their own mining. Spanish coinage provided another source.
– Melting and refining – Crucibles made of materials like sandstone were used to melt silver scraps and objects into raw ingots. Impurities were removed by fluxing with borax.
– Shaping the silver – Annealing, hammering, wire-drawing, and engraving shaped silver into sheets, wire, and other formations.
– Cutting and punching shapes – Patterns were chased or stamped into the prepared silver using sharpened nails and awls for cutting. Punches created decorative voids.
– Setting stones – Cabochon or shaped stones like turquoise were inset into channels or bezels carved out of the silver base. They were fixed with pointed prongs.
– Decorating – Textures, symbols, designs were tooled or etched into the silver. Granulation and cluster work added ornamental accents.
– Polishing and engraving – Finally, polishing with fine sand and engraving with steel tools produced smooth, reflective, finished surfaces.
So while European contact introduced silver, Native artisans quickly adapted it using their own tools and aesthetic style. The skills involved took years of work to perfect. This made silversmithing a specialized trade passed down through generations.
Traditional Jewelry and Ornamentation
The combination of turquoise inset in silver backing produced a vivid decorative effect. Turquoise/silver combinations became prevalent in the ornamentation of tribal members, particularly those of high rank. Some traditional jewelry and ornamentation included:
– Beads and pendants – Turquoise beads strung together as necklaces were common, as were large turquoise discs or tesserae hung from silver chains. These were believed to offer protection.
– Earrings and ear pendants – Ears were often elaborately adorned with turquoise and silver. Intricate earrings like squash blossoms were popular. So were elongated ear drops and heavy pendents dangling from pierced ears.
– Bracelets – Broad cuffs worn on the wrists, often in pairs, featured tapered bands of silver. These “naja” bracelets were inset with sky blue turquoise.
– Rings – Rings of silver featuring mounted turquoise and sometimes intricate stone cluster designs provided ornamentation for fingers.
– Buckles – Large rectangular buckles of silver on belts and harnesses were set with turquoise. These imparted symbolic protection for horses.
– Necklaces and chokers – Choker-style necklaces using repeating patterns of silver and turquoise nanoparticles offered another way to adorn the neck.
– Pins – Decorative and ceremonial pins were important for fastening blankets and clothing. These silver brooches set with turquoise were passed down as heirlooms.
– Tabs – Small cluster tabs pierced for attaching were sewn onto clothing and headbands. Intricate silverwork framed signature turquoise stone groupings.
Cultural Significance of Jewelry
Beyond personal decoration, these items of jewelry and ornamentation held deeper meaning:
– Spiritual protection – The sacred qualities of turquoise imbued objects with protective powers, according to Native American beliefs. Jewelry worn on the body warded off harm.
– Connection to heritage – Designs contained symbols reflecting the wearer’s cultural identity and tribal lineage. Jewelry kept this heritage close.
– Display of status – Those of high rank wore more lavish turquoise/silver combinations to display their prestigious position.
– Markers of wealth – Rich clusters of turquoise revealed the wearer’s access to expensive materials procured through trade or gifted in ceremonies.
– Talismans of power – Leadership and influence were indicated by donning tribal power symbols and sacred imagery executed in silver and turquoise adornment.
– Bonds of kinship – Jewelry was commonly given as meaningful gifts to mark rites of passage, marriage, birth, coming-of-age ceremonies, and other special bonds.
So turquoise/silver jewelry contained layers of cultural meaning beyond decorative purposes. The choice of materials, designs, and contexts carried important symbols and signals.
Modern Use in Native American Culture
While decorative tastes and techniques have evolved with time, turquoise and silver maintain an important presence in modern Native American life. Their symbolic resonance persists today.
– Traditional styles – Many artisans still practice ancestral techniques of silversmithing and stone-setting passed down through generations. They sell directly or wholesale to shops. Classic styles remain popular.
– Contemporary influences – Native American jewelry today often synthesizes traditional designs with modern influences. New textures, asymmetric shapes, and non-customary stones get incorporated.
– Popular beyond Native art – Mainstream adoption of Southwestern jewelry styles has created a mass market for turquoise/silver beyond Native craftspeople. Imported imitations abound.
– Source of income – For many Native artisans today, jewelry-making provides a vital livelihood. Their skill sustains demand for authentic, high-quality turquoise and silver work.
– Tribal enterprise – Some tribes own collective businesses selling traditionally-inspired jewelry and crafts. These generate income to support community needs like education, healthcare, and cultural programs.
– Maintained ceremonial use – Elements of turquoise/silver adornment retain spiritual practice and symbolic meaning in many contexts like rituals, dances, and powwows.
– Collection by non-Natives – Museums and private collectors avidly acquire Native arts. Valuable antique Native jewelry commands high prices at galleries, auctions, and art shows.
So turquoise paired with silver enjoys an ongoing legacy. Both materials retain deep-rooted significance for Native peoples of the Southwest. Their vibrant combination continues reflecting the cultures that imbued them with symbolic power.
Conclusion
Turquoise and silver hold unique importance in Native American culture. Beyond ornamental appeal, they convey sacred attributes, values, and meanings. Their prevalence in tribal jewelry and crafts stems from centuries of accumulated tradition. Traditional techniques express a synergy between earthy stones and refined metalwork. Wearing and gifting these items affirmed bonds, status, heritage, and protection. Centuries later, turquoise and silver maintain their cultural resonance and artistic value, remaining touchstones for Native American identity. Their persistence in sacred and commercial uses reveals an innovative, adaptive outlook – just like the flexible, conductive metal itself.
