Indigenous Anthropology - Traditional Material Culture

Indigenous Anthropology ANTH 2301 Traditional Material Culture Indigenous peoples' traditional material cultures display a remarkable diversity of styles and abilities. Amidst concerns over the disappearance of Indigenous cultures in the 19th century, Native art was highly gathered by both private collectors and institutions. Native American art is still in demand today. While a large number of Indigenous artists still create in traditional ways, others are also using modern methods and styles. A lot of cultural philosophy is embedded in native material cultures. "To anthropologists, Native American/First Nation arts are windows to understanding other cultures and societies," states anthropologist and museum director Nancy Parezo. They can serve as examples of universal ideas and cultural distinctions, common meanings, and communication channels, or they can be used to bolster evolutionary theories or explain the maker's cultural conceptions of beauty (1990, 12). Both historical and spiritual themes may be found in artistic forms like pictographs, or drawings, and petroglyphs, which are pictures cut into stone. There are hundreds of engravings at the Cascadia Cave petroglyph site, which is close to Sweet Home, Oregon. The bear paws on the cave wall are the most clearly identifiable. The cave wall is also covered in a plethora of lines, zigzags, and holes. Tony Farque, an archaeologist with the Willamette Forest Service, said that for a long time, people believed that the location was utilised by Native shamans to get "bear power." But stepping back reveals that the painted portion of the wall is surrounded by a sizable relief of a fish, with carved lines forming its gills and one hole serving as its eye. It is now recognised that the cave served as a gathering place for the Kalapuya, Molala, and other local tribes that used the South Fork Santiam River, where salmon were known to breed, as a means of gaining dominance. Too much attention from archaeologists and the general public might ruin cultural places like Cascadia Cave. Thousands of people have touched the walls, excavated the ground to find artefacts, taken rubbings of the sculptures, and occasionally even painted over petroglyphs to make them stand out more at Cascadia Cave for over a century. The site is degraded by all of these actions. Rainfall has accumulated at the cave's walls because early archaeologists dug into the ground and moved several yards of soil in a manner similar to this. The moisture that collects causes mosses and other plants to grow more quickly, which erodes the cave's walls. Additionally, excavation ruins the site's archaeological surroundings. It is significant to remember that it is forbidden to remove and excavate archaeological materials in many nations, including the US. People that keep excavating materials for personal use or commercial purposes are breaking the law. Numerous sites that have been unlawfully excavated are graveyards that house the skeletal remains of individuals as well as cultural artefacts connected to current tribal communities' descendants. Another important component of material culture for many Indigenous peoples is weaving skills. Craftsmanship in basketry was and is employed to make containers for everyday domestic and resourceacquisition tasks. Different weaving methods, including right twist, left twist, overlay, and fake embroidery, were created by indigenous cultures. These methods provide ornamental styles that are exclusive to certain tribes. A wide variety of natural materials are used in weaving processes. Cattail and tule were usually used to make large products like carpets, but a broad range of materials, such as juncus, hazel branches, cedar bark, bear grass, spruce roots, willow, and maidenhair fern, could be used to make baskets. Materials were selected based on a variety of factors, including colour and lustre, flexibility, stability, and durability. Weaving materials were dyed to provide intricate colour changes. Cooking was another use for baskets. Many civilizations use a similar method to boil water in a basket: the basket is first securely woven, usually in two layers, and then filled with water. A tight weave and the fibres of the basket produced a waterproof outer layer; some traditions also applied pitch or oil to the fibres. To bring the enclosed liquid to a boil, hot pebbles cooked over a fire would be placed within the basket. Food may be prepared in this way without damaging the basket. Nowadays, a lot of tribes provide schools where members may learn the fundamental skills and fashions unique to their tribe. Classes in carving, weaving, beading, drumming, regalia creation, and other skills related to the 27 tribes that comprise the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are available. Education of Native philosophy, spirituality, and language is blended with arts and crafts. To become experts in the art form they love, some people spend years in classes, and tribal members might train as apprentices under skilled craftspeople to acquire more sophisticated methods. Many artists are utilising their creations to define themselves and their people in the circumstances of the past and present. These works are often driven by strong sentiments of Native identity. Many artists have turned into professionals, creating art for exhibitions, galleries, outside monuments, and contracted sales. The artists use both modern sculptures and creative traditions including painting, sketching, and illustration in addition to traditional arts. To make them more resilient to the demands of modern tourism, many classic three-dimensional artworks, like cedar sculptures, are being created in glass, metal, or even stone.