- 1). "The Navajo or Dine (dih-NEH, the Navajo word for themselves, meaning "the people") are an Athabascan people who migrated to the Southwest from western Canada sometime between 1300 and 1500 AD. After their arrival, a holy person named Spider Woman taught the Dine how to weave." From that time on, the Navajo specialized in refined pattern work and a rich History of symbols that depict every day life. With the identification of Navajo rug weaving scholars have identified that there are four different time periods that the rugs can be classified into. Knowing how to identify these periods will help you know what you are buying. These are: Classic Period, 1650 - 1868, Late Classic Period, 1865 --1880, Transitional Period, 1868 - 1895, Rug Period, 1895 - Present.
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Deep reds
The Classic Period, 1650 - 1868, can be identified with these types of pattern works:" Weavers drew their colors primarily from the natural wool, ranging from white to dark brown. Indigo, a non-native, deep blue plant dye, was being imported by the Spanish when the Navajo started weaving, and was available to them through trade. In addition, Navajo weavers made yellow dyes from native plants, and sometimes combined them with indigo to make green. By the late 1700s, Navajo weavers had access to a deep red color that came in the form of imported woolen cloth called bayeta (or "baize," in English.) Weavers actually unraveled the cloth and re-spun the yarns, giving this fiber the modern name, "raveled red."
During the Classic Period, the Navajo made three types of longer than wide serape style blankets. The Moqui (Moki) pattern consisted of alternating stripes of indigo and natural brown, often separated by narrow white stripes. Early traders thought the Hopi made these blankets, hence they were named Moqui, the Spanish word for the Hopi people. Serapes made from loosely spun and coarsely woven wool were called diyugi meaning "fluffy weave." Diyugi featured natural brown and white stripes, sometimes embellished with narrow beaded, wavy, or checkerboard stripes. Navajo rugs, Navajo blankets, navajorugs, navajoblankets, navajorugsblankets, american indian rugs, american indian blankets, native american rugs, native american blankets, Navajo textiles, chiefs blanket, saddle blanket, classic blanket, Klagetoh, Ganado, Two grey hills, Chinle, Burnt Water, Wide Ruins, Tec Nos Pos, Red mesa, Navajo rugs for sale, buying Navajo rugs, Crystal, storm pattern, Hubbell trading post, Childs blanket, Transitional blankets, Moki, Germantown blankets." - 3
Diamonds and zig-zags
Late Classic Period, 1865 --1880, can be identified with these types of pattern works: "pieces differed from their predecessors in the greater complexity of patterns and color palette. Many of the best weavers of the Transitional Period drew inspiration from Saltillo style weaving to create highly elaborate patterns of serrated diamonds and zigzags. Late Classic Period serapes also tended to be more colorful than strict Classic Period items due to the ever increasing number of new chemical dye colors coming on the market in the 1870s and 1880s." So if you see a Navajo rug with bright colors be aware that you might have a rug that is produced with chemical dyes that contain heavy metals for dye fixatives. So what that means to the Collector, is that there could be future damage happening from the these heavy metals to the rug that you bought. Buyer beware. - 4
Modern wools
Transitional Period, 1868 - 1895, can be identified with these types of pattern works and fibers: "The experience of Bosque Redondo, then, had two profound effects on Navajo textiles: it dramatically increased the availability of machine made materials for weaving, and it intensified the exposure of Navajo weavers to blankets and clothing made in the Hispanic and Anglo traditions. The Navajo internees were allowed to return to their (now smaller) homelands in 1868, but the heightened influence of American and Hispanic culture did not end then. In 1867, the Navajo nation had been placed under the authority of the Bureau of Indian Affairs whose agent was permanently responsible for the distribution of annuity goods. In the 1870s, commercial traders moved onto the Reservation and further provided commercially made yarns, chemical dyes, cloth, blankets and clothing in exchange for raw wool, weavings, and pelts. The Navajo had traded blankets to their neighbors-especially the Pueblo peoples-since they started weaving. Although this exchange continued, the Anglo-American traders at Reservation trading posts quickly became a much greater economic force. By the 1890s, the traders were the Navajo's primary economic link to the outside world." - 5
Natural dyes modern patterns
Rug Period, 1895 - Present, can be identified with these types of pattern works:" Throughout the Rug Period, Navajo weavings that incorporate images of objects and people in their designs have slowly gained in popularity. Such Pictorial Rugs may include small representational images within a larger geometric design, or may consist primarily-even solely-of a picture. Small pictorial motifs occasionally appeared on Transitional Period weavings and typically consisted of feathers, arrows, animals and other common objects that may have held some personal significance for the individual weaver. As the modern trappings of Anglo culture filtered onto the Reservation, strange new objects such as cattle, trains, American flags, and letters of the alphabet caught the fancy of some weavers." - 6). Natural dye stuffs that the Navajo are using in modern rug making today are a reflection of how the Navajo want to make rugs in "Classic period" style but with modern influences in their pattern designs. Be aware with natural dye stuffs there is always a chance of fading with your textile as well as heavy metals being used with the fixing of the color onto the wool fiber. So keep all textiles out of direct and indirect sunlight as much as possible to avoid fading and fiber weakening.
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