The indigenous cultures of North America engaged in varied activities whose analysis provides significant insights on the beliefs they held and their perceptions of the environments around them. Art pieces linked to the Southwest region of Pueblo reveals essential information regarding the social, religious and spiritual activities of the communities that inhabited the region, including the Zoni Acoma and the Hopi people. The Woodlands region in the Southeast similarly provides important artifacts that help to enhance understanding of its indigenous inhabitant’s way of life. This paper intends to compare the art pieces and cultural practices from the two regions to identify existing similarities and differences.
Art pieces retrieved from the Pueblo people including the Koshares (Clowns) and the community’s pottery activities reveal the commitment of its people to the maintenance of specific ideals. The Pueblo people perceived the world as an environment where every individual had a responsibility to fulfill their spiritual obligations (Schaafsma, 2018). A look at the painted bowls developed by the Mimbres similarly reveals the spiritual aspect of the community’s interactions. Consequently, the worldviews of these two communities are alike, given their shared ideals on the essence of spirituality, and the central role of cultural practices in its advancement.
Other than their spiritual beliefs, other glaring similarities emerge in the cultural practices that were adopted by communities from the two regions. First, they conducted elaborate burial ceremonies for their dead. While the Pueblo people buried their dead in stone-covered graves, the Woodlands people also decorate their corpses before burial. Women played a central role in the advancement of pottery among the Pueblo while the Woodlands people incorporated painting services to improve the quality of their final products. The Woodlands people also engaged in rock painting ceremonies conducted by Anishinaabe artists.
The social structures in the two regions reveal several differences in how the communities interacted amongst themselves. The Woodlands people, for instance, entrenched the family as the primary unit of authority while the Pueblo established units such as families, clans, and villages (Schaafsma, 2018). Additionally, the Woodlands people built better and larger dwellings compared to the Pueblo who constructed houses made of adobe bricks. The Pueblo held dancing ceremonies at the dance plaza while the Woodlands people preferred body painting and tattooing exercises. In conclusion, these instances serve to highlight the similarities and differences that emerge from native North American art.
Reference
Schaafsma, P. (2018). Human images and blurring boundaries. The Pueblo body in cosmological context: Rock art, murals and ceremonial figures. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 28(3), 411-431.