Information on Native American Beads

Native American bead working retains cultural value today.

Beads have historically played a very important role in Native American life, from their origins as sacred religious and community ritualistic items to the cultural and heritage importance that they now possess. However, Native American bead working has changed greatly over the years, especially with the arrival of new materials from Europeans. Additionally, as the relationship between Native Americans and European settlers changed over the years, so too did the role and value of the bead to Native American tribes.

Materials

Originally, Native Americans made beads from turquoise and other natural materials.

Native Americans originally made beads from shell, coral, turquoise, precious stones, copper, amber, ivory and animal bones and teeth. Different materials were used more frequently in certain areas; for instance, Native Americans living closer to the ocean had greater access to shells, whereas those living in the Southwest more often used precious stones and minerals, since these resources appear more frequently there. However, with the arrival of European settlers, Native Americans began to incorporate glass beads made using European techniques into their bead work.

Pre-Columbian Beads

Before the introduction of the glass bead, Native Americans made beads from natural materials. Beads were considered exceptionally valuable by many tribes . For instance, North Eastern Native Americans created a type of clam shell bead called a wampum that was used to record history. Different colors of wampum represented different events, such as adoptions, mourning, council meetings, treaties and contracts, which were strung onto belts. Additionally, Nativetech.org reports that beads possessed symbolic and religious meanings for many Native American tribes, as they were used in ritual exchanges and believed to increase longevity and success in hunting, warfare, and courting, and to help the wearer achieve immortality after death.

The First Glass Beads

Glass beads were originally produced in Venice.

According to the University of Texas, some scholars believe that the glass bead was first introduced to Native Americans shortly after Christopher Columbus's arrival. Glass beads were originally produced in Venice. Europeans used these beads in exchange for friendship with Indians as they increasingly began to desire control over American territories. They were also traded in exchange for furs during the fur trading era.

Seed Beads

According to Support Native American Art, by 1840, very small, colored glass beads known as seed beads were being traded in bulk to Native Americans. As tensions heightened between white settlers and Native Americans, complex bead working using the seed beads developed as a way to differentiate between tribes and to renew pride in native art forms and life. This was especially true amongst the central and southern Plains Indians, like the Cree, Ojibwa, Shoshone, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Crow, Lakota, Sioux, Cheyenne, Ute, Comanche and Kiowa tribes.

References

• Indians.org: Bead Necklace
• University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Library and Information Science: Native American Beadwork: Techniques and Samples
• Support Native American Art: Native American Beadwork
• Native American Technology and Art: Introduction and Use of Glass Beads

Resources

• University of California Santa Cruz: A Brief History of the Beaver Trade