Prehistoric Adornment in the Southwest

Prehistoric Adornment in Southwest Ornaments and Jewelry of Color and Brilliance Attracted Earliest Races

ATURE cares for the adornment of her favored broods in many ways: in bright feathers, a splendid spotted or striped coat, a tuft of gay feathers, a mane of shaggy but long and beautiful hair. Perhaps man feels and has felt that he was the ugly duckling, for he has striven to improve on nature for centuries, for mellenia, in matters pertaining to adornment. He has painted black if he was white, or white if he was black, or red for variety's sake. He has draped about his neck anything from the finger bones of an enemy or the teeth of some animal, to the most exquisitely cut diamond rings on his fingers; bracelets on wrists and ankles, or beads and pendants about his neck have ever been popular with him.

The first article to be worn by man was one of necessity-the skin of an animal, which protected him from the elements. Nevertheless, the tail of that skin was left attached and dangling, and in due time came to be a symbol of power rather than a simple adornment. Perhaps it was the strongest man of the tribe who fought for and took the skin from his fellows. His brute strength was his scepter and thus the lion's tail came to mean force and strength. Such a symbol of power was acknowledged in cultural Egypt where the warrior king retained that same animal tail or a woven copy of it as an essential part of his official garb.

The second step in adornment, as the first, was made in the old stone age of man's cultural development. The presence of nodules of the black oxide of manganese in graves of this primitive period suggests that these men painted their bodies. Shortly after this are found burials with bones scraped and painted red. Did man paint his body for magical or quasi-religious purposes alone? Or, being human, even though primitive, could he not have desired this body decoration as ornamentation for his own or his tribesmen's pleasure?

The third step in the development of human adornment is but slightly removed in time from the second. Shortly after man was attracted by the color of paints, he was attracted by the pleasing form of shells. These objects were also found about water, and water was an essential in life; hence the shell early assumed combined ornamental and ceremonial value in the primitive mind. So here too the shell necklace could not be completely separated from the magical, religious or ceremonial side of man's life. The shell jewelry industry began in this way many thousands of years ago and has remained popular even unto the present day among both primitive and civilized people.

an essential in life; hence the shell early assumed combined ornamental and ceremonial value in the primitive mind. So here too the shell necklace could not be completely separated from the magical, religious or ceremonial side of man's life. The shell jewelry industry began in this way many thousands of years ago and has remained popular even unto the present day among both primitive and civilized people.

To shell were added many other materials jadeite, bone, horn, turquoise and, in the metal culture periods in Europe, silver, gold, copper, bronze, iron, glass, etc. Faceted stones are of very recent date, comparatively speaking. The primitives first picked up unusual shapes in stones, then they learned to shape them simply; never did any ancient group develop the finer cutting and shaping of stones.

The men of the Southwest also began with simple bits of adornment. No distinctly intentional burials accompanied by artifacts are present here to identify the first stages in the development of ornaments, yet the later known stages, the Cavemen, picked up the last thread and carried it to its logical conclusion in this region.

The earliest ornaments in the Southwest were seed and shell beads, stone amulets, and bright feathers, which possibly had a semi-religious significance. The small brown seeds of the Ephedra were sometimes cut at the ends and sides to form symmetrical cylindrical shapes. These were strung on yucca