NaDéne or Dine (Navaho, Navajo)
I. Athabascan language speaking group believed to have arrived mid 1400s. Modern historians believe Cortez met a NaDéne or Déne (Apache) band who in 1535 were living in skin tents in an area which would become modern-day New Mexico.
A. The NaDéne came from the old land, Tinnch, in Northern Canada.
1. Perhaps due to large Arctic volcanic explosion that caused a volcanic winter and froze them out.
B. Raided for sheep and horses as soon as they arrived.
1. In 1912 the NaDéne owned an estimated 1.5 million sheep.
C. Weaving and pottery skills derived from the Hopi and other Uto-Aztecan speakers after the Popé Rebellion of 1680.
D. Unlike the Pueblo people who have government leaders the Navaho have no centralized traditional form of government.
1. Treaties were made with individual bands.
2. They have developed this form to respond effectively to the demands of the U.S. government.
E. The tragic era was the time around the “Long Walk,” when the NaDéne were forced into a box canyon at Canyon de Chelly. Forced to march 300 miles over the continental divide to Bosque Redondo (Round Forest) in winter, 1863. As many as half of the 9,000 NaDéne force marched as part of the "Scorched Earth Policy" of the United States military, died from exposure, hunger, and drowning on the way.
1. Kit Carson was in charge of the “evacuation.”
2. After five long years and more deaths and a failed Indian policy, the NaDéne were allowed to return to their homes.
II. Architecture primarily the hogan a circular house and an occasional ramada and shed.
A. House has a smoke hole in the roof and a rectangular doorway.
B. The primary environment is the out of doors, a house is for shelter and security only.
C. The modern hogan is based on an ancient wattle and daub model, but modern materials like concrete block are used.
D. Crib roofing.
E. A hogan in which a person dies is forever abandoned. Things inside, too.
1. Fear of Ghost sickness. Form of infectious disease control?
III. Weaving was given to humans by Spider Woman.
A. Little girls fingers are rubbed with spider webs so they will never tire of weaving.
B. Blankets served the function of a garment, collateral wealth, and door coverings.
C. Woven on a vertical tapestry loom of woolen yarn spun and dyed by the weaver or raveled from another fabric.
D. Styles are influenced by outside influences like aniline dyes, bayeta, and traders.
1. Natural brown and white plain stripe firmly established by probably about 1700. Efficient process, no dying, full-width shuttle passes.
a. Oldest known plain-stripe blanket found at Massacre Cave 1804.
b. Weft-faced tapestry with weft stripes.
2. Bilaterally symmetrical serape style blankets appear 1830 - 1875.
a. Woolen, wide variety of colors, natural dyes or rewoven bayeta.
3. “Chiefs Pattern “blankets appear around 1800.
a. Navaho have no chiefs as such. They can be worn by anyone.
b. Vertical warp and horizontal weft.
c. Valuable as a trade item.
d. Phase I - 1800 - 1850, no additive geometric forms. typical indigo and raveled red. Too much time to weave this way.
e. Phase II - early 1800s until 1870s, 9 elements evenly spaced (three repeats), raveled red redyed with lac (cochineal).
f. Phase III - 1860 - 1880, three vertical rows (two repeats) of elements with serrated additive elements.
g. Phase IV - 1870 - 1875, natural figures with increasingly complex color and pattern.
h. Eye Dazzlers - 1880- 1890, loosely woven op art patterns. Pound blankets predominate.
i. Germantown - 1880 - 1900, a return to old-time patterns in Germantown yarns prevail.
j. Bordered patterns - 1890 - , these are based on Chinese carpet designs.
4. Elements affecting changes in blankets can be attributed to contact with traders and other outsiders.
a. The NaDéne learned to weave from the Hopi during the isolation after the Rebellion of 1680.
b. Phase I abandoned possibly because of depletion of bayeta, but time was saved by not having to produce all of the yarn.
c. Invention of aniline coal tar dyes in England in 1856. These dyes were fully saturated, durable, inexpensive.
d. 1880 saw the introduction of imported Saxony yarns. This produced an increase in complexity and color of designs.
e. The railroad reached NaDéne land in 1880 which increased demand for blankets a thousand fold. Created a market for white man’s goods and a blanket economy.
f. Machine-spun, pre-dyed, seined Germantown yarns are delivered to traders by railroad and pound blankets are shipped east.
g. Chinese rugs gain popularity and traders encourage design adoption. Borders are included and extreme detail predominate.
h. English letters are adopted as design elements, especially A, E, I, & W.
i. Blankets became rugs and became as stiff as boards.
5. The production of blankets around the turn of the century caused a religious uproar when sacred Yei figures appeared in a tapestry. Resulted in one fatal shooting. Hosteen Klah was a shaman who used Yei figures.
6. Upon the introduction of Pendleton blankets the NaDéne adopted them and decreased use of their hand woven products.
III. Na Déne metalwork derived from early stone and shell work learned in the post rebellion period of isolation.
A. Materials
1. Most early jewelry contained no metal only turquoise., malachite, obsidian, and shell.
2. Silver work learned from the Mexican population about 1853.
3. Copper from telegraph lines, silver from coins, and brass from Mexico.
B. Products
1. Manufactured into powder and tobacco canteens.
2. Later silver workers created wrist guards for archers.
3. Belt buckles made in the form of a “naja,” an Arabic design element brought by the Spanish.
4. Concho belt silver plates threaded on a leather belt.
a. Leather appears through piercings in early belts, later belts are looped on the back, hiding the leather.
5. Squash Blossom necklaces are really pomegranate blossoms, an image brought by the Spanish from the Moors.
6. Contemporary jewelers employ a much wider range of colors, materials, forms, and uses in their work.