Subject: warrior

Culture: Mojave

Setting: Desert Southwest 19thc

Evolution:

Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)

* McNab 2010 p139

"Away from the Apache territories, inhabiting the Arizona-California border, the Mohave Indians ... underwent a traumatic social transformation during the mid- to late nineteenth century. During the 1850s, the Mohave were at war both with rival Native American tribes -- particularly the Maricopa, Pima and Papago -- and the US settlers who moved into Mohave territory in search of gold, the former conflict weakening the Mohave's capabilities to fight the latter. Mohave attacks on settlers resulted in the US Government establishing protective forts and deploying significant numbers of troops. A major clash between the Mohave warriors and soldiers of the US 6th Infantry brought a signal defeat for the Indians, and their power gradually attenuated during the rest of the century as they were progressively forced onto reservations."

* Kroeber/Kroeber 1973

Costume

* Paterek 1994 p268

"It was too hot for clothes most of the time, so the men went naked. Some wore narrow breechclouts of woven willow-bark strips that passed between the legs and under a thong belt so that a small flap hung in front and longer one in back. After white contact they wore cloth loincloths with long panels hanging front and behind. Later, too, they wore small fitted breechcloths held in place by a cloth girdle about the hips. No leggings were worn."

Ornaments

* Paterek 1994 p268

"Other than the beaded collars, the Mojave were adorned with the usual ornaments -- strings of clamshell disk beads (which also served as a form of money), bead and/or shell necklaces (often worn in great abundance), earrings, shell pendants in the nasal septum of the young men, and feathered articles."

Body Art

* Paterek 1994 p271

"The Mojave painted the face and body daily with the usual red, white, and black pigments, the black being used especially to indicate readiness for warfare. ... The Mojave painted themselves more than any other California tribes. Tattooing was also universal with both sexes; there was a strong belief that the untattooed person did not go into the afterworld, but rather into a rat's hole at death."

Shield

* Paterek 1994 p270

"The Mojave men wore no armor but protected themselves with round, unornamented hide shields."