HISTORY ACTIVITIES
Q: How long ago do archaeologists think the Indians traded with the people from Mexico?
Q: What other objects would have been traded with Mexico?

Q: Who were the ancestors of the Navajo? Where did they come from, when and why?

Q: How did the Moors influence Spain?

Q: In what other regions of the world is turquoise found?

Q: What do you remember about how the Spanish came to New Mexico?
Q: Why was New Mexico called New Spain?
Q: When did it become Mexcio?
Q: When did it become a U. S. territory?
Q: When did it beome the 47th state to be annexed?
Q: Why did trade play such an important role in New Spain?

Q: What sorts of things would be traded at the pow wows?
Q: What sorts of things would the people from New Spain have traded when under Spanish rule on El Camino Real?
Q: What sorts of things would the U.S. trappers and traders have traded?
Q: What sort of things would have been brought in on the Santa Fe trail?

Q: The Spanish people who came to northern New Mexico came for God, glory and gold. Explain what this means.

Q: On a map find the Navajo Reservation and New Mexico. Find the northern New Mexico region, including Taos Pueblo and the town of Taos where the Millicent Rogers Museum is located. Trace the entry of the Spanish into New Mexico from Central and South America. (If you have a world map, investigate how the Moors came from northwest Africa into Spain; then how the Spanish came from Spain to Mexico.)

Q: Matching: draw a line to the word that applies
Pueblo	Farmers Hunter/Gatherers Nomadic Settled in Villages
Navajo	Hogans Pueblos Herders Anasazi ancestors
Spanish	Athapaskan ancestors Horses Catholic Priests Silversmith Moorish ancestors Emphasize silver in their jewelry Have used turquoise in their jewelry for over 2,000 years Borrowed designs from the Moors Occupied established sites over long periods of time Transient Sheep herders Raised corn, squash and beans Introduced silver working

Q: What is culture? Find the word "culture" in a dictionary or refer to the section on "culture" in this website. Make a comparison of Pueblo and Navajo culture. Divide a page in half and list all the characteristics of Pueblo culture on one side and Navajo culture on the other. Consider similarities and differences:
• Navajo cultural expressions emphasize harmony and simplicity.
• Pueblo and Navajo jewelry makers are concerned with the problem of creating a center or focus
• Pueblo and Navajo jewelry makers are interested in imparting stability to a mobile structure.
• Pueblo and Navajo jewelry makers are interested in alternation and rhythm.

Q: What do we mean when we say we appreciate something?
Q: Do you feel like you appreciate Pueblo and Navajo jewelry more now? Discuss why or why not.

JEWELRY ACTIVITIES:
Q: From what seas does coral comes from?
Q: How would coral be fashioned into a necklace?
Q: Some early necklaces found in the Anasazi sites had beads of a coral color. Do you know of another source for a material of this coral color?

Q: Leeky Deyuse said, "[I] carved each stone to mother nature's dictate." What does the statement mean?

Q: Define these words: symmetry, axiality, order, balance. Can you find these characteristics in the squash blossom necklace?

Q: Choose a ketoh from the photograph and describe in it in detail. Pretend that you are talking to a friend on the telephone who can not see the ketoh. You will have to describe the size, shapes, materials, design, etc.

Q: Think about all the objects in our houses that are made by machines. Do you think that the jewelry that we see in department stores today are machine-made or hand-made? Why would someone want a piece of jewelry like one of these ketohs that took so long to make? What would it mean to you to own a piece like this?

Q: Bracelets are fixed rigid forms, yet the decoration on them often suggests rhythmic progression such as the same steady beat that accentuates Navajo music. Choose one of the bracelets pictured in this website and decide if you think the design is rhythmic, static, lyrical, bold. Do you feel that the artist has kept in mind the importance of balance? Do you think he has resolved the design of the bracelet into a harmonious state? Do you see cruciform or quadrantal arrangements? Is there a cardinal orientation? Has he solved the problem of creating a center or focus? (Preference for a single large set or center stone of turquoise shows interest in centrality or focus.) Why? Why not?

Q: List some of the disparate elements in concha belts that have been brought together into a harmonious whole which reflect the Navajo ability to adopt aspects of other cultures and make these traits their own.

Q: Look carefully at the pictures of concha belts. Decide for yourself by what you have read about conchas which ones are the earliest and which were made later. Justify what you decide.

Q: Explain what these statements mean:
The naja can be called an open circle.
The naja is not just a visual center but a center of weight as well.
The naja gives focus to the necklace, maintains alignment and defines the axis.
The naja serves to break the curve of the necklace, changing the curved line of a simple bead necklace into a more or less straight and orderly progression toward the center.
The naja provides balance between the straight and curved line.

Q: Listen to some Navajo music. (For example, the compact disc Coyote Tales by Frederick Aragon.) Can you find similarities in the music to these characteristics of the squash blossom necklace? Can you determine if there is an interest in order and stability? Balance? Harmony? Rhythm?

Q: Choose a piece of jewelry that we have discussed here and present it in a talk to your classmates. You might include who made it and why it was made. Would you like to own it? Use the vocabulary page and the definitions, including any of the words that may apply to how you feel about that piece of jewelry. You may use any information you have learned from this website to support your ideas. Keep in mind concepts such as continuity, sense of community, beauty, spirituality. Consider the method(s) involved in making the piece, the process, the maker, the wearer. In fulfilling hozho, a work of art must be created in such a way that it manifests hozho or is "hozho nahastlin" "finished in beauty". In your own words, explain what this means.

Q: Could you say that Native American jewelry has a hidden meaning? Write a paper titled "There is more to Native American jewelry than meets the eye!"