Mojave Dance Bow
A wooden Mojave, Native American dance bow, with elaborate geometric painted motifs front and back, datingfrom the tribe's early reservation years.
The Mojave, "The People of the River," practiced dry farming, relying on the overflow of the Colorado River to irrigate crops in their homelands of Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. A people of dreams and visions, they recounted their origin stories in Great Tellings, some cycles consisting of hundredsof songs.
Celebrated as skillful runners, and warriors, the lives of the tribe's 22 totemistic clans changed dramatically after confrontation with the US Army in 1859. The present bow and its dances would have played an important role in preserving culture in a new environment.
39” 1/2 long.
Circa 1870.
From an old California private collection.
A wooden Mojave, Native American dance bow, with elaborate geometric painted motifs front and back, datingfrom the tribe's early reservation years.
The Mojave, "The People of the River," practiced dry farming, relying on the overflow of the Colorado River to irrigate crops in their homelands of Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. A people of dreams and visions, they recounted their origin stories in Great Tellings, some cycles consisting of hundredsof songs.
Celebrated as skillful runners, and warriors, the lives of the tribe's 22 totemistic clans changed dramatically after confrontation with the US Army in 1859. The present bow and its dances would have played an important role in preserving culture in a new environment.
39” 1/2 long.
Circa 1870.
From an old California private collection.
A wooden Mojave, Native American dance bow, with elaborate geometric painted motifs front and back, datingfrom the tribe's early reservation years.
The Mojave, "The People of the River," practiced dry farming, relying on the overflow of the Colorado River to irrigate crops in their homelands of Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. A people of dreams and visions, they recounted their origin stories in Great Tellings, some cycles consisting of hundredsof songs.
Celebrated as skillful runners, and warriors, the lives of the tribe's 22 totemistic clans changed dramatically after confrontation with the US Army in 1859. The present bow and its dances would have played an important role in preserving culture in a new environment.
39” 1/2 long.
Circa 1870.
From an old California private collection.