Unknown Diné (Navajo)

Native American

Saddle Blanket
1940

Wool
46.75 x 33 in.
Museum Permanent Collection
1984.1337

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This object has the following keywords:

• blankets - Large rectangular coverings of thick but soft material, used especially for warmth.
• geometric motifs - Design elements with geometrical themes.
• geometric patterns
• Navajo - The style and culture of a populous North American Indian group who live primarily in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, speaking an Apachean language which is classified in the Athabaskan language family. At some point in prehistory, the Navajo and Apache migrated to the Southwest from Canada, where most other Athabaskan-speaking peoples still live; although the exact timing of the relocation is unknown, it is thought to have been between 1100 and 1500 CE. These early Navajo were mobile hunters and gatherers; after moving to the Southwest, however, they adopted many of the practices of the sedentary, farming Pueblo Indians near whom they settled.