{"id":20837,"date":"2024-03-27T14:28:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T18:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/hudsonmuseum\/?page_id=20837"},"modified":"2025-06-02T13:28:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T17:28:48","slug":"north-america","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/hudsonmuseum\/online-exhibits-2\/body-adornment-ethnographic-jewelry-from-around-the-world\/north-america\/","title":{"rendered":"North America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Prior to European contact, copper, turquoise, shell, and bone were fashioned into jewelry\u2014bracelets, armbands, pectorals, necklaces, and earrings. These items and the materials from which they were made, were highly valued and were often traded over vast distances. After contact, Native peoples learned how to work silver and inlay precious stones, developing new styles of jewelry both for internal use and for sale. In the Southwest, Navajo and Pueblo peoples made silver squash blossom necklaces, bracelets and rings featuring turquoise, coral and jet, and necklaces from melon and olive shell heishi<\/em>. In the Northwest Coast, dentalium shells were traditionally used and continue to be fashioned into necklaces and earrings. In the mid eighteenth-century Russian traders introduced glass trade beads and Northwest Coast artists decorated silver jewelry with crest and clan designs, mirroring the elaborate decorative traditions of the region.<\/p>\n\n\n