Bison Hunting Art

• The oldest known artwork on this continent was produced by Native American prehistoric people and depicted their bison hunting. A remarkable kill site was found in Oklahoma and was dated 10,900-10,200 BCE. This prehistoric tribe, known as the Folsom Complex, shaped highly stylized arrow points and painted bison skulls.
  
  

The Kokopelli Image

• Many nations expressed their cultural practices, beliefs and spirituality through their art styles. For example, the Anasazi carved petrogylphs on rock walls celebrating deities such as the Kokopelli, who brought water to the desert areas of the Southwest, as well as fertility and luck. The Kokopelli image is dated A.D. 1100-1300.
  
  

Anasazi Basketry

• The Anasazi also made baskets from willow tree material. The baskets that archaeologists have found date from A.D. 450. Sometimes these baskets were lined with a particular pine sap known as pinñon gum. This gum enabled the baskets to be used as water holders. The Pueblo Indians today are known as the ancestors of the Anasazi.
  
  

Jewelry Materials

• All of the Indian nations produced jewelry. Indian jewelry, even today, reflects a meticulous attention to detail. The jewelry that adorned both men and women was made from different materials such as shells, beads, turquoise, brown stone, opal, pink stone, onyx, silver and copper.
  
  

Dreamcatchers and Beadworking

• Dreamcatchers are an art style that is derived directly from the Ojibwe tribe. The style was made from sinew fiber, and the motif was a web encompassing a frame formed like a tear drop. Beadworking did not really become prevalent until the arrival of Europeans who traded glass seed beads for other items. The tribes who lived on the plains---the Arapaho, Arikara, Brule and the Cheyenne, to name just a few, produced highly complex and intricate beadwork designs.
  
  

Motifs

• Beadwork with flower motifs was often a style used by Northeastern tribes such as the Cree. The Indians from the Southwest embellished their creations with elaborate shell and turquoise beadwork. Quillwork is an ancient style of art that began with the East Coast and Plains Indians. These tribes used softened, dyed porcupine quills, and wove them into leather and birchbark. In addition, they stitched quill into war shirts, medicine bags and moccasins.