We had a very interesting discussion in the museum about wampum and pump drills and our visiting family asked a question we didn’t know the answer to….How long were the pump drills used? So we promised to look into it and write up a feature about what we found! A […]
Museum Artifacts
10 posts
We discussed the tufa stone and sandcasting types of molding techniques the Navajo used for their silversmithing, but some of the work that is produced is too thin to be efficiently molded. So how did they make some of the thin detail work? This was done by hammering out coins! […]
Beautiful silver jewelry is a well known icon for the Navajo, or Dine, people. But how are they able to create such intricate work out of silver? One method was to use a mold carved from tufa stone. Tufa is a type of limestone that is relatively easy to carve […]
Making a mold out of tufa stone was discussed in a previous post, but how did the Navajo mass produce some of their work if the mold would only work for a small number of pieces? In the mid 1800’s the Navajo started a process that is known as sandcasting. […]
If you’ve been to the museum before, you probably remember our display by the military hats showcasing medals. These medals were produced by the government in commemoration to, currently, 32 tribes that had participating members in the Code Talkers of WWI and WWII. One of the things we do during […]
Though the tribes of the Northwest Coast are often though of as great fishers of salmon, this plaque depicts a different species. The fish in the carving is a Rockfish, also called the Pacific Ocean Perch. Growing up to 40 pounds and having a slightly sweet taste, the Rockfish was […]
Beads come in many different shapes and colors The bead in a disk shape, called heishi, featured on this necklace are made out of coconut shell. To make the coconut shell into beads, a hole was drilled using a pump drill like the one below: Beads were drilled halfway through […]
Our staff had the pleasure of meeting the Savidge Family earlier in the year and we were pleased to see them again this week. But we weren’t expecting them to come with such a cool find! They found this on Hatteras Island at Cape Point and were hoping that with […]
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for our fallen warriors If you have ever participated in a Native event, such as our past Powwows, you would have noticed that every event has at least one daily event where members of the military are asked to come forward so they […]
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for our fallen warriors If you have ever participated in a Native event, such as our past Powwows, you would have noticed that every event has at least one daily event where members of the military are asked to come forward so they […]