Single Strand Nugget Necklace with Jaclas [SOLD]

The Anasazi were the ancient ones, the ones who preceded the contemporary pueblo peoples. At an Anasazi ruin in Utah in 1960, archaeologists unearthed a buried female who had passed away around 1100. Around the neck of the remains was a beautiful turquoise necklace. Necklaces such as this are still the most favored among the Pueblo people of today.

From the earliest of times, turquoise has been favored by the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. They mined it at Cerrillos, about 30 miles south of Santa Fe, for centuries. Turquoise had religious, ceremonial, superstitious and economic values to the Pueblo Indians.

Bits of turquoise were put in bearing beams of buildings to strengthen them, offerings of turquoise were made at sacred shrines, Medicine Men used it in diagnostic and healing rituals, and it was often used in burials. It is a unique sign of wealth and is seen in abundance at ceremonial dances at the pueblos of New Mexico.

Hieshe, made from sea shells, such as used in this necklace, are constructed in a most interesting manner. The shell is cut into small pieces, drilled and strung on cotton string, then slowly and meticulously rolled over sandstone until each piece is round and all the pieces are of the same diameter or graduated diameter if desired. Cotton is used because it is softer and doesn’t wear against the shell too abrasively. The turquoise tabs that are added to such a hieshe necklace are drilled, often off center, and strung with the hieshe to form an interesting necklace.

This Single Strand Nugget Necklace with Jaclas style is the most traditional of all necklaces that we associate with the pueblo people. Long before silver was introduced to them, the pueblos were making necklaces of turquoise, hieshe, shell, coral and other natural materials. This is the style they were wearing when the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century; and this is the style they wear today during their religious and social dances.  If one goes to any pueblo feast day plaza dance, it is this style necklace one sees on all the dancers—male and female, adult and child. It possesses powers unrivaled by silver jewelry.

This Santo Domingo Pueblo necklace has the traditional pair of jaclas suspended from the bottom of the necklace.  Jaclas were originally made and worn as earrings but eventually were added to the nugget necklaces in the manner shown here.  The part of the necklace that is in the back of the neck is wrapped in cotton thread in what is known as a “pueblo wrap.”  It perhaps was intended to be removed and replaced when it became soiled.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Single Strand Nugget Necklace with Jaclas is from the collection of a Santa Fe family.

Recommended Reading: Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest by Sarah Peabody and William A. Turnbaugh