Colors for a North American past

Abstract

Ethnographies of Native North America document an abundant and diverse array of directional color systems, yet archaeology has contributed little to the understanding of the historical development of such systems. Given a rekindling of archaeological interest in color, this paper reviews and organizes the ethnographic data in order to pose historical and functional hypotheses susceptible to archaeological evaluation.

Keywords:

• Color directions
• pre-Columbian symbolism
• North America

Acknowledgements

John Clark, Joyce Marcus, Ekaterina Pechenkina, Timothy Pugh, Sara Stinson, and Paul Tolstoy shared thoughts and references. The tentacled result is my own doing.

Notes

Warren R. DeBoer is Professor of Anthropology at Queens College, The City University of New York. His research deals with the prehistory of lowland South America, ceramic ethnoarchaeology, and, most recently, Ohio Hopewell.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Warren R DeBoer

Warren R. DeBoer is Professor of Anthropology at Queens College, The City University of New York. His research deals with the prehistory of lowland South America, ceramic ethnoarchaeology, and, most recently, Ohio Hopewell.