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Quilled Leadership Shirt
Artifacts Group 1 / Group 2 / Group 3
 

Before right side shoulder quillwork added.

 
After right side shoulder quillwork added.

The back of the shirt has horse quirts depicting horses either captured or given away. A row of stick figure people are lined in a row of which the meaning is only known to the drawer. Also near the top are half circles which are horse tracks or people and horizontal coup lines.

Þ

This magnificent buckskin shirt is made with the legs of the animal intact which hang as pendants at the lower corners. The image on the left shows the shirt before the left side quill strip and fringe were added. The war record is prominent on the front showing coup lines and an attack upon an enemy. A dog soldier is shown naked and has a sash for attaching to the ground where he would fight to the death if his side was losing. It is assumed this is illustrating the wearer of the shirt.
Ü

#10

The quilled strips on the shirt are double-quill zig-zag, a difficult and time-consuming early style. The hair ties are human from enemies or donated by relatives. The horse hair indicates horses stolen in raids.

The figure with the red ochre sash indicates a dog soldier. Ý

Ý Touches of blue ochre were added to symbolize the sky. (Ochre is colored clay dug from hill sides.)

Clay comes in a number of colors such as brown,  yellow and red. These were mixed with hide glue and water to adhere them to the leather to avoid smudging.

The fringe was dampened with water, pulled and twisted to give it a more interesting appearance.    Ý

Hair ties are wrapped with red, white, yellow and purple porcupine quills.  Ý

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04/29/2009