1 4/12/19 (SLIDE #1)The Sacred Colors and Materials of Ancestral Pueblo Jewelry Jill E. Neitzel David E. Witt Our plan today is to examine Ancestral Pueblo ornaments as sacred objects whose colors and raw materials were imbued with religious symbolism and animating spirits. These two characteristics of color and material were inextricably linked – you just can’t have one without the other. Each had its own set of supernatural associations that overlapped to varying degrees and that generally related to Pueblo religion’s overriding concerns with water and fertility. We argue here that this spiritual content was not static. Rather, we intend to show that the symbolism and animating spirits of an ornament’s colors and raw materials strengthened (SLIDE #2) during each successive stage of its life history. Our discussion follows these four biographical stages, beginning with raw material, followed by crafting, then personal adornment, and finally ritual deposition. We want to emphasize that this is an idealized sequence in which one or both of the intermediate stages could be skipped (SLIDE #3). For example, unmodified raw materials could be used as a ritual offering, as 2 could production debris and completed ornaments that were never worn. But whatever the sequence, our argument is the same (SLIDE #4) – the sacred meanings associated with jewelry colors and materials became more powerful during each successive stage. Our exploration of these meanings draws on ethnographic data from descendant groups, a strategy justified by the conservatism and continuity of Pueblo religious traditions Raw Materials So to begin – (Slide #5) Ancestral Pueblo jewelry originated with a raw material whose most distinctive characteristic was its color. This combination of substance and hue made an ornament a sacred object at its inception, because powerful symbolic meanings and animating spirits were associated with both. (Slide #6) The array of religious meanings that historic period Puebloans attributed to the typical jewelry colors of white, blue-green, black, and red included sacred directions; the katsinas’ mountain homes; and various clouds, plants, and animals, all of which had their own supernatural associations. Furthermore, a color’s sheen could signify the sun, the moon, other-worldly origins, deities, and great cosmic power. (SLIDE #7) Raw material symbolism was similarly multivocal. For example, shells represented birth, creation, 3 rejuvenation, and earliest time; and their marine origins linked them to the primordial, underworld sea whose resident deities created the human world. (SLIDE #8) Turquoise signified water, the sky, creation, and bountiful harvests. Both turquoise and shell were the underworld deities’ most precious possessions, which made their real world counterparts sacred reminders of the supernatural realm. (SLIDE #9) The materials’ sources added to this spiritual content. Given the importance of the sea in Pueblo cosmology, some raw shell may have been procured during ritual pilgrimages that would have heightened the material’s sacredness. Ancestral Puebloans may have also undertaken pilgrimages (SLIDE #10) to turquoise sources. And if, similar to a kiva’s sipapu, a mine was an entrance to the underworld, then its excavation may have been a ritual activity that amplified the mineral’s symbolism. Finally, (SLIDE #11) raw materials were animate objects. In Pueblo religion, all of Mother Earth’s products share her cosmic spirit, which gives them non-human personhood. For shell, these Raw Beings could be associated with the physical object, the living mollusk that it once protected, or both. Raw Beings also animated the other major ornament materials of turquoise and black and red stone. Production 4 (SLIDE #12) The next stage was the transformation of a raw material into a finished piece of jewelry. This generally occurred in two parts. The first was the creation of a basic form, such as an individual bead, pendant, or tessera. And the second was combining basic forms into strands or less frequently, mosaics. (SLIDE #13) Crafting of a basic form heightened the multitude of symbolic meanings that already imbued the color and material. For some substances, it revealed the color, and for all (SLIDE #14), it transformed their animating spirits from Raw to Made Beings. I’d like to pause here to show illustrations (SLIDE #15) of the most common forms – beads and pendants - so that you can see their diverse materials, colors, and shapes. These turquoise beads, for example, highlight how much this material varied in its hues and in the presence and patterning of inclusions. (SLIDE #16) And these pendants show an even broader range of shades and inclusions. This diversity may have been significant for the ornaments’ symbolic meanings and animating spirits. (SLIDE #17) Here are pendants made of other materials, which highlight not just variation in form and color, but also sheen. (SLIDE #18) And here are some other basic forms made of diverse substances and hues – white shell bracelets, orange stone tesserae, and a red stone nose plug. Clearly, to 5 paraphrase the title of this sseesion, jewelry added much color to the Ancestral Pueblo world. (SLIDE #19) With these images in mind, I’d like to return to our main point that the production of basic forms strengthened and expanded the symbolism and animating spirits that were already associated with the raw material and its color. How much the pre-existing symbolism was bolstered and what new meanings were added depended on the complexity of the crafting process. It would have been greatest when the desired form was not visually obvious in the raw material, as in the case of these turquoise pendants. Their production involved a series of tasks -- chipping, grinding, drilling, and polishing, each of which would have cumulatively strengthened or added to the spiritual content of the material and its color. (SLIDE #20)The supernatural significance of finished forms is most obvious for beads and pendants shaped as birds and frogs, animals that historic period cosmology consistently associated with water and fertility. When crafted from shell or turquoise, these effigies intensified the already present water and fertility-related symbolism of the raw materials and their colors. And the Made Beings animating these ornaments would have included those of the animals themselves. (SLIDE #21) Pueblo ethnographies suggest that various geometric forms also had their own supernatural connotations. 6 (SLIDE #22) The second part of the production process strengthened all of this spiritual content even further by combining basic forms to create a more elaborate piece of jewelry. The sacred content of these combinations was greater than the sum of their individual parts and could be generated in several, successively more complex ways: - the simplest was to combine the same form made of the same material and color; the numbers could range from just a few elements (SLIDE #23) to hundreds or thousands; (SLIDE #24) or even tens of thousands - (SLIDE #25) a more complex combination used the same form but in a patterned arrangement of different colors and materials - (SLIDE #26) and an even more intricate combination incorporated different forms made from different colors and materials The supernatural power of these two more complex arrangements could be increased even more by extending the patterns into longer and longer strands. (SLIDE #27) All three embellishment strategies could also be applied to mosaics. But mosaics would have had an additional source for spiritual amplification in the symbolism associated with their overall designs, such as the birds and circles you see here. (SLIDE #28) For both strands and mosaics, their 7 supernatural power was heightened further by the juxtaposition of their individual pieces’ Made Beings and/or by the creation of new, more powerful Made Beings Adornment (SLIDE #29) After crafting was complete, an ornament was ready for the next stage in its life history, which usually entailed being worn. When this function involved high status persons or occurred during religious ceremonies, the symbolic content and animating spirits of the jewelry’s colors and raw materials increased further in power and scope. When a strand or mosaic was worn, its spiritual force was strengthened by the presence of other adornments, the symbolism conveyed by the person’s garments, the setting, and the occasion. The sounds that the jewelry made when the person moved would have intensified its sacred content. (SLIDE #30) Considering jewelry and status first -- while the symbolism and spirits associated with an ornament’s colors and materials accrued to every adorned person, these meanings were amplified for those with high status. As exemplified in Chaco Canyon by Pueblo Bonito’s Burial #14, their jewelry was generally more plentiful and fancier, which heightened the supernatural content of the colors, materials, designs, and arrangements, and in turn legitimized and enhanced the wearer’s 8 social position. For the Pueblo II period Chacoans, blue-green turquoise also took on new symbolism of representing elite status and the power of Chaco society as a whole. (SLIDE #31) Turning to jewelry worn during ceremonies, its spiritual power was strengthened by being associated with other ritual regalia and all aspects of the ceremony itself. The colors and designs of masks, headdresses, body paint, and garments were imbued with their own symbolism. (SLIDE #32) And the full assemblage signaled specific ceremonial roles and prescribed sequences of prayers, songs, dances, processions, offerings, and feasts, each of which was loaded with supernatural significance. Deposition (SLIDE #33) The quotidian life history of most ornaments ended as a ritual offering deposited in a grave, religious structure, or some other sacred context. The offering’s symbolism and animating spirits were bolstered one last time by all aspects of its placement -– the ceremonial setting, the particulars of the occasion, the offering’s other contents, and the entire liturgy of concealment –- the sights, sounds, smells, participants, regalia, and choreography. (SLIDE #34) The spiritual amplification that occurred for burial offerings may have varied depending on whether they were 9 placed in an individual grave or a multi-person burial room and whether this occurred at the time of interment or later. Furthermore, as in the case of Pueblo Bonito’s Burial #14, increases in the sacred power of ornaments used as mortuary offering probably contrasted with those worn by the deceased. Worn jewelry is more likely to have belonged to the deceased, whereas offerings may have been the possessions of others and reflected their social roles and agendas. (SLIDE #35) Ancestral Puebloans also deposited offerings of jewelry and related items in great kivas and smaller kivas. As with mortuary offerings, the spiritual amplification that occurred in these ceremonial structures probably varied, in this case, depending on the offering’s other contents, the type of kiva, the particular context within it, and the different ceremonies associated with each. But unlike mortuary offerings, these ceremonies related more to the structures and their associated groups rather than to specific individuals. (SLIDE #36) Another contrast is that great kiva and kiva oblations included partially crafted and broken ornaments, production debris, and unmodified materials much more often than mortuary offerings, and thus juxtaposed both Raw and Made Beings. Conclusion 10 (SLIDE #37) To conclude, because the colors and raw materials of Ancestral Pueblo jewelry were intrinsic to one another, the sacred content of any ornament was multi-faceted and powerful. Visibility and workability would have certainly been important practical considerations in selecting a particular hue and substance for crafting. But their symbolic meanings and animating spirits were probably just as compelling. Using the life history perspective to examine the conjunction of color, material, symbolism, and animating spirits provides new insights into ornaments as sacred objects. From initial procurement to final deposition, the activities, products, and contexts of each biographical stage heightened the supernatural force of the jewelry’s colors and raw materials. The crafting process also transformed the materials’ animating spirits from Raw to Made Beings. As an ornament’s spiritual power increased throughout its life history, this strengthening varied within particular biographical stages, depending, for example, on the complexity of its production; by whom, in what contexts, and with what it was worn; and where, how, and with what it was deposited. And although we haven’t had time to discuss it here, variation also occurred at a broader scale, depending on the time period and cultural group. As such, we see the intersection of jewelry color, material, symbolism, and animating spirits as a portal 11 for investigating more general questions about Ancestral Pueblo cosmology, rituals, and the role of religion in socio-political relations. (SLIDE #38) Thank you very much!