Native American Jewelry in Appalachia

I decided to focus on the Indian Jewelry artifacts collected and displayed in the Hall of Fame at the Museum of Appalachia.  I was struck by the similarities to some of today's jewelry, in theme.  I was also interested in the meaning behind the design of some of the pieces.  For example, the Indian religion was naturalistic.  They believed that all things had souls and should be cared for accordingly.  Yet, there is an obvious influence of the white monotheistic (Christian) religion in the jewelry shown in the museum.  How could they be swayed?  What were the consequences from both the native americans and the whites for changing of not changing your way of thinking. To be explored...

Below, you will see images of the cross in the jewelry displayed.  Additionally, you will see uses of wasted metals, which I think stays with thier traditions of respect for all things.  They reused bullets, and other discarded metals to create jewerly; such as earrings and brass crosses.

The "jewelers" were not known, but based on what I read from other sources, there seems to be not one person designated to create the jewelry within a tribe.  This was a conclusion I came to based on lack of contrary information.

I don't know that this type of jewelry was unique to the Appalachian region.  The material, such as bullets was based on simple availability.  Brass as certainly not unique to this area, but to be able to use it, required availability as well, which came from the whites.  Timing of these articles was probably made it unique to Appalachia at the time, meaning white westward expansion was later than white occupation in the east.

 I added the modern cross to see the likeness of the middle cross in the museum display.