North American Indian jewelry and adornment : from prehistory to the present
(Book)

For more than ten years, Lois Sherr Dubin, author also of Abrams' highly regarded The History of Beads: From 30,000 B.C. to the Present, conducted extensive research, photographed artifacts, and interviewed tribal elders and artists throughout the continent. Dubin sets the stage with an introduction to the earliest known Americans and the artifacts they left behind. She then focuses on the cultures of specific regions, moving across North America, from the Arctic and Subarctic to the Woodlands, the Plains, the Plateau, the Great Basin, the Northwest Coast, California, and the Southwest. Her richly informative text traces the development of techniques and styles across regional and cultural boundaries, and incorporates remembrances and insights from dozens of Native artisans and elders. The final chapter features a visit to a contemporary powwow, an important means by which Indian adornment continues to develop and flourish.Also included are diagrams related to jewelry techniques, maps, illustrated sidebars, and two sumptuous eight-page gatefolds highlighting, respectively, floral beadwork and Northwest Coast bracelets. Dubin's book has a vividness and immediacy that will appeal to jewelry lovers as well as anyone interested in anthropology and, especially, the fascinating art and culture of the North American Indians.

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