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| Clothing Back to Clothing and Tools Click any item to see an enlargement |
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 Moccasins Navajo, ca. 1650-1750 San Juan drainage, New Mexico Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Mike W. Kelly 37129/11 |
Navajo and Apache people express their hunting and gathering heritage in their clothing, and especially in their leather moccasins. The ancestors of the Pueblo people of the Southwest preferred sandals woven from yucca and other fibers. These child's moccasins, worn now through the sole, were found in a cache in a cliff-face in the Gobernador. Spanish documents tell of the Navajo wearing moccasins, buckskin shirts and leggings trimmed with metal buttons for the men, and fine woven mantas, or sleeveless dresses for the women. Men, women, and children wore pendants of shell, coral, and glass beads. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  Blanket and manta Navajo, ca. 1750-1800 Cañon de Chelly, Arizona Morris excavations, Cañon de Chelly, ca. 1925 9150/12, 8151/12 Photographs by Blair Clark, Museum of New Mexico |
By the late 1600s or early 1700s, Navajo weavers had begun to create blankets, dresses, and other clothes from the wool of their churro sheep. Better grazing for the sheep may have led the Navajo to move south and west of the Dinétah to areas such as Cañon de Chelly and Chinle. The striped shoulder blanket and diamond weave manta, or women's dress half, show the excellence of the weaver's craft at this early date. Both pieces have natural colored wools as well as indigo-dyed yarns. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Navajo History | Early Archaeology | Pueblito Architecture | Clothing & Tools New Spain (1600-1700) | Modern Archaeology | Timeline | Acknowledgements Exhibition Schedule |
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