Figure 1 - uploaded by Ellen Pearlstein
Content may be subject to copyright.
Osage, Native American. Headdress, late nineteenth to early twentieth century. Wool, felt, cloth, Golden Eagle feathers, horse hair, glass beads, hide, weasel fur, silk, sinew (Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, X1053). Photo: Justin Kerr.
Source publication
Investigation of the light sensitivity of feathers used in Californian material culture revealed that the cultural values held by these materials was crucial for their interpretation. It was evident that feathers are valued both for their tangible and intangible attributes and that tangible qualities, including color and shape, and modification and...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... tribes in the nineteenth century but have since been adopted and used by many other tribes as well. These headdresses consist of Eagle feath- ers, with tufts of downy feathers and/or dyed horse- hair tied to their tips, attached to a hide cap, with a band decorated with quillwork or beadwork and dan- gling strips of fur or ribbons (Waldman, 2006) (Fig. 1). Male Golden Eagle feathers were used for these head- dresses, and among Plains tribes, men had to earn each feather so that the number of feathers, and therefore the length of the headdress, reflect the status of the wearer (Eagle Feathers and the US Permit Process, 2008). Eagle feathers were -and are -used by many tribes to make ...
Citations
... As an artistic medium, historic featherwork comprises objects made to be worn, seen, made, or decorated with feathers [4][5][6]. Up to the early 16th century, the featherwork items produced in Mexico were ceremonial or performance objects as well as fine garments for members of the upper class [7,8]. Possibly the most representative example among the extant pieces of precolonial Mexican featherwork is a headdress made of quetzal feathers, preserved at the Weltmuseum in Vienna (Figure 1) [9]. ...
... In the Mesoamerican region, feathers were obtained from wild and domesticated birds, including the scarlet macaw, roseate spoonbill, lovely cotinga, montezuma oropendula, squirrel cuckoo, white-fronted parrot, and altamira oriole, and local birds such as the great-tailed grackle, harpy eagle, golden eagle, hummingbird, and heron [8]. These feathers provided a broad palette of green, blue, black, yellow, red, white, rose, and violet. ...
Two of the most significant cases of extant 16th-century featherwork from Mexico are the so-called Moctezuma’s headdress and the Ahuizotl shield. While the feathers used in these artworks exhibit lightfast colors, their assembly comprises mainly organic materials, which makes them extremely fragile. Printed media, including books, catalogs, educational materials, and fine copies, offer an accessible means for audiences to document and disseminate visual aspects of delicate cultural artifacts without risking their integrity. Nevertheless, the singular brightness and iridescent colors of feathers are difficult to communicate to the viewer in printed reproductions when traditional pigments are used. This research explores the use of effect pigments (multilayered reflective structures) and improved halftoning techniques for additive printing, with the objective of enhancing the reproduction of featherwork by capturing its changing color and improving texture representation via a screen printing process. The reproduced images of featherwork exhibit significant perceptual resemblances to the originals, primarily owing to the shared presence of structural coloration. We applied structure-aware halftoning to better represent the textural qualities of feathers without compromising the performance of effect pigments in the screen printing method. Our prints show angle-dependent color, although their gamut is reduced. The novelty of this work lies in the refinement of techniques for printing full-color images by additive printing, which can enhance the 2D representation of the appearance of culturally significant artifacts.
... For example, patterns of avian lifecycle phenology have been captured in traditional stories that link seasonal bird behavior with tribal use of different habitats and species. Birds are also commonly used in spiritual regalia and ceremonies Riedler et al., 2012), and are revered, highly sought after, and considered sacred by tribes throughout northern California and southern Oregon (Long et al., 2018). Further, avian species of cultural importance represent a set of beliefs or "character" traits that form avian traditional knowledge, where some species are the focus of story-teaching lessons and ethics of stewardship or used for regalia and food (Anderson, 2005). ...
Abstract Historically, wildfire and tribal burning practices played important roles in shaping ecosystems throughout the Klamath Siskiyou Bioregion of northern California and southern Oregon. Over the past several decades, there has been increased interest in the application of fire for forest management through the implementation of prescribed fires within habitats that are used by a diversity of migrant and resident land birds. While many bird species may benefit from habitat enhancements associated with wildfires, cultural burning, and prescribed fire, individuals may face direct or indirect harm. In this study, we analyzed the timing of breeding and molting in 11 species of culturally significant land birds across five ecologically distinct regions of northern California and southern Oregon to explore the potential timeframes that these bird species may be vulnerable to wildland fires (wildfire, prescribed fire, or cultural burning). We estimated that these selected species adhered to a breeding season from April 21 to August 23 and a molting season from June 30 to October 7 based on bird capture data collected between 1992 and 2014. Within these date ranges, we found that breeding and molting seasons of resident and migratory bird species varied temporally and spatially throughout our study region. Given this variability, spring fires that occur prior to April 21 and fall fires that occur after October 7 may reduce the potential for direct and indirect negative impacts on these culturally significant birds across the region. This timing corresponds with some Indigenous ecocultural burning practices that are aligned with traditionally observed environmental cues relating to patterns of biological phenology, weather, and astronomy. We detail the timing of breeding and molting seasons more specific to regions and species, and estimate 75%, 50%, and 25% quartiles for each season to allow for greater flexibility in planning the timing of prescribed fires and cultural burning, or regarding the potential implications of wildfires. The results of our study may serve as an additional resource for tribal members and cultural practitioners (when examined within the context of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge) and forest and wildland fire managers to promote stable populations of culturally significant bird species within fire‐dependent forest systems.
... Those wearing feathers were thought to be able to fly, sing, and display like a bird, and could serve as sacred deities between human and other worlds (Costa-Neto et al. 2009). In pre-Hispanic Aztec culture brightly-colored iridescent feathers were highly prized, and hummingbird, quetzal, and male mallard plumage was incorporated into cloaks and shields of elite warriors, and pasted onto skin at festivals (Riedler et al. 2012). However, long-held cultural attitudes that traditionally prevented the overexploitation of natural resources are being lost, including beliefs by the Ch'orti' Maya in Guatemala about supernatural powers of birds (Hull and Fergus 2017), and traditional Maya ideology in the Yucatan that encouraged a shared responsibility for sustainably managing communally-held natural resources such as game birds (Anderson and Medina-Tzuc 2007). ...
This study evaluates the relationship between people and birds in Mexico, a country where high cultural and
biological diversity are reflected in the close associations between people and natural resources, recorded since pre-
Hispanic times. It systematically reviews 1041 records of cultural use of wild birds in Mexico published between 1996–2017
and analyzes patterns of contemporary use of avifauna. It classifies information for 252 birds by grouping uses of species
and families into 11 categories and quantifies overall use with a Cultural Value Index (CVI). The data show that birds have a
high cultural value as food, pets, and for medicinal uses (312, 235, and 119 records, respectively), particularly in the state of
Chiapas. Large edible birds had the highest CVIs and included Plain chachalacas (Ortalis vetula; 9.72), Black-bellied whistlingducks
(Dendrocygna autumnali; 6.65), Crested guams (Penelope purpurascens; 6.25), and Great currasows (Crax rubra;
6.23), with the Cracidae family recorded as favored gamebirds. Conspicuous, brightly-colored birds had high CVIs, including
Keel-billed toucans (Ramphastos sulfuratus; 6.50), Red-lored amazons, (Amazona autumnalis; 6.03), and allied species,
which were traded or kept as pets despite legal protection. The high CVIs of Barn owls (Tyto alba; 5.45) were related to
medicinal uses, and Mourning doves (Zenaida macroura; 5.69) were mainly used as gamebirds. Wild bird populations face
increasing pressure from habitat loss and overexploitation. We propose that evaluating the ethnological significance of
wildlife with indices like CVIs can quantify the distinctive needs of rural communities, which when combined with
information on conservation status can develop more sustainable species management plans.
Feathers are found in cultural heritage collections of tribal arts from the Americas, Africa, and the Pacific as well as in contemporary art, European and American fashion, and in taxidermy and ornithology specimens. Although museum conservators routinely evaluate feathers by looking at insect damage and mechanical wear, as well as fading as evidence of light exposure, examination of feathers for visible fluorescence under an ultraviolet source is atypical. Recent research by both the authors and bird biologists indicate that ultraviolet fluorescence examination can provide valuable information about the identification and pigmentation of feathers found in museum collections. A number of feather pigments, including psittacofulvins found only in red and yellow pigments in birds in the Psittaciforme family, as well as porphyrins found in rusty brown owl plumage, may be identified by their specific ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence. Feathers whose pigments are not directly fluorescent may still undergo appearance changes under an ultraviolet source as a consequence of light aging. Fluorescence is demonstrated to be an early marker of chemical change, and can be used to detect such change before it can be measured colorimetrically. The authors evaluate different methods of analysis, including ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence, reflectance spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, gas chromatography/ mass spectroscopy, and rates of pigment extraction for detecting light-induced physical and chemical changes in feathers. Results indicate that ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence may be the most sensitive indicator of light-induced degradation. Museum featherwork, some with records of estimated display, was found to display ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence changes analogous to photoaged feather samples.
