Native American Shield Analysis

That which moves had power. This was the belief that the Native American people of the Plains carried in many of their traditions. But the one element of Native American art and culture that best expressed that saying was their creation of war shields. War shields, best expressed in the Plains, were often designed with this concept of what moves has power, so the Native Americans grabbed this power and put it on and in the shields. This power gave war shields not only a physical defense for the people of the Plains but also a spiritual one harnessed from whatever creature, symbol, or element included in or on the shield. Of course all tribes or cultures of the Plains vary in what they choose in what they are worthy to display on the shields …show more content…
(Fig. 3) The figure displays a shield claimed to be used by a Sioux warrior named Black Horse, and which is consistent with other work of the Western Sioux, or Teton. The design and make up is best described by Frank Speck and Royal Hassrick: “Made up of deer-hide, stretched taut on a metal hoop … the face of the shield are painted symbolic decorations in red, blue, white, black, and orange … the center figure is that of a man wearing a feather bonnet and holding a feathered lance or banner in his hand.” Also, the shield features many semi-circles and lines of different length, color, and measure. The Black Horse shield, with all its features has been identified as a Peace or Treaty shield. “The entire shield symbolizes a treaty with commissioner, while the owner, represented by the central figure, claims to be the chief.” The central figure on the shield is the chief, and he showing peace to white people (Americans). The white people are represented by the white dots in the lower quarter of the shield. The semi-circle designs, along with the multi colored lines, all signify the people the chief rules over. These identifications all point to a very peace-oriented shield, used by a chief to protect his people from further harm with a …show more content…
Going through and analyzing the war shields of the Cheyenne, Sioux, and the Kiowa, it is learned that the focus and design of war shields is not just about the features on it and their meaning. From the Cheyenne its show their high value of cosmological masses and creatures in the sky, and their limited pattern of following those design principles. The Sioux showed that the shields can also be used for signs of peace, and a means of protecting people and warriors by putting down the weapons. And last the Kiowa gave the war shields a person meaning, and almost a self-identification for a warrior or human being, and again powers that are for self-defense instead of offensive tactics. The examination of these now ancient shields of war brings forth their not only physical, but spiritual and defensive