Welcome to MONAH’s artifact blog, where we get up close and personal with our permanent collection!
Crystal Bridges and the Museum of Native American History are conversing between the two collections. In viewing Crystal Bridges works by George Catlin, Thomas Cole, James Henry Warre, and Cyrus Dallin alongside the objects they were depicting, we are reminded of the great importance these artifacts had in the lives of Indigenous peoples who used them.
Read MoreToday’s artifact blog takes us to Northern Peru during the Pre-Columbian period (1000 BC - 1000 AD). This horizontal-compound vessel is from the Vicus culture and dates to approximately 100 BC- 600 AD.
Read MoreThe regal and ornately decorated trade coat pictured here is attributed to a well-known figure in indigenous history: Chief Sitting Bull! This fantastic addition to our collection tells a fascinating narrative on the history of trade blankets and their continued importance to Native American cultures and traditions.
Read MoreThis beautiful quilled pipe bag dates to the last quarter of the 1800s but remains in excellent condition today. It measures to about 39 inches in length, including the fringe. The original owner is "He Frightens" (a.k.a Joe Frightens), the son of Chief Iron Shell of the Brulé Sioux.
Read MoreThis phenomenal ceramic figure you see here is a part of the Jama-Coaque tradition from 1,400-2,300 years ago! While much of the culture remains elusive, their powerful ceramic figurines tell their stories to us today.
Read MoreLike many of the cultures surrounding them, their pottery techniques were exquisite. They range from depicting naturalistic to fantastical or supernatural scenes. For the Nasca people, it was their primary way of artistic and symbolic expression.
Read MoreTake a look into these late 1800s Plains Indian man’s leggings! They are a beautiful example of the ingenuity and quality craftsmanship of these people during a time of change and adaptation. These leggings are on display at MONAH during the Companion Species: We Are All Related exhibition with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art!
Read MoreInca keros (sometimes called queros) act as more than just a drinking cup; they can literally seal a person's fate based on how they receive them. They also have changed over time.
Read MoreMississippian culture (900 A.D.-1,450 A.D) is well known for its expertise in pottery-making. In this post, we are focusing on the craftsmanship of the Quapaw people. The Quapaw also work pottery into effigy forms that depict animals like dogs, deer, otters, and frogs; objects like shells, and even people!
Read MoreThe Moche culture began its history around 200 A.D. along Peru's northern coast and fell around 900 A.D. Their artisans and artists left behind valuable looking-glasses to their culture's values, ideology, mythology, and religious practices found in the crafts they created.
Read MoreToday, the Spiro Mounds represent one of the wealthiest and influential centers of the pre-Columbian era. This beaded necklace tells a story of fashion, trade, and wealth in this sophisticated culture. This necklace is made from a 34-inch strand of hollow bird bone beads and found at the Spiro Mounds in Leflore County, Oklahoma. They are estimated to be used within 900 A.D. to 1450 A.D.
Read MoreMany tribes all across North America have used, and some continue using, cradleboards to carry their children at very young ages. Here at The Museum of Native American History, we have two great examples of cradleboards reaching from sea to shining sea. A Mohawk cradleboard dating to the late 1800s and a Paiute cradleboard dating to around the same time. While different, they offer the same amount of comfort and protection to a newborn child while giving their mother a range of motion to carry on with her day.
Read MoreThe Mayan civilization is mostly associated with their cultural advances in mathematics, architecture, astronomy, visual arts, and the Mayan calendar inspired by their philosophy of life- nothing has ever been born and nothing has ever died. Of course, this encouraged their beliefs in gods and the cosmos. The complexity of their beliefs is displayed beautifully by this specialized group of stone carvings called “eccentrics” found near Melchor de Mencos, in Guatemala.
In the beginning of early people, food is the most essential and critical aspect of life. It can be easy for us today to think of food as a simple thing we need, but only think about it when we need it. Our early ancestors, 14,000 years ago, considered the question of food as a way of life!
Read MoreMeet "Billy Bacon," a doll from Eagle, Alaska made by the Hankutchin Athabascan or Han people.
Read MoreToday, in celebration of Día de Los Muertos, we are looking at stone masks from Teotihuacan, dating to around 200 A.D. to 650 A.D! Stone masks are possibly the best well-known representation of Teotihuacan's sculptures and a larger emblem of Mesoamerican history.
Read MoreDistinct Caddoan culture emerged around 1000 A.D. in South Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and East Texas. However, the Caddo pottery tradition emerged around 800 A.D.; it has become an unmistakable characteristic of the Caddo people. Caddo pottery is superior in technical construction to most all other Mississippian Era pottery.
Read MoreToday, we are looking at a new acquisition to the MONAH collection, a Cherokee pipe carved in the 18th century! It was carved from a solid hardstone and is notably less decorative than some other Cherokee pipe designs. This pipe was found in Sequoyah County in Oklahoma back in 1956. It likely arrived in Oklahoma on the "Trails of Tears" in the early 19th century.
Read MoreMeet Tusker, the woolly mammoth! Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) roamed the Earth beginning 2.6 million years ago! However, the last of their kind went extinct on the mainland between 10,400 and 7,600 years ago.
Read MoreExplore intricately woven bags that hold a special significance in Andean culture, both in the past and present. They are traditionally called Chuspas, but widely known as Coca bags because of their use. Coca bags existed in ancient Andean societies to carry leaves from the coca plant, which were used for medicinal and ritualistic purposes.
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