significance of native american warpaint/bodypaint

pallas · 22nd September 2009, 09:02 PM

so this topic isnt directly about ethnographic weapons but i do believe that it is quite closely related to that subject...

ive been curious as to the religious/cultural/political significance of native american warpaint, specifically the full body painting of the plains and southwest indians.......i had always wondered about the subject but had found rather scant information on the topic....my cuiosity got resurrected recently after seeing the painting of the battle between pedro de villasur/ L'Archeveque expedition and the pawnees at the loup/platte confluence in nebraska.....

note the body painting of the pawnee, the warrior painted white with a black face with small red or black crosses all over his body, or the warrior with half his body white and the other half painted with what look like jaguar spots?....most seem to have half their heads painted white and the other half black.....i was also wondering how far east the practice of warrior-body painting extended in this country and also why these warriors were apparently nude or close to it...with the recent post about native american armor, id have thought perhaps some type of armor would have been depicted.......from what ive read, this painting has been judged accurate and not a "conceptualized" or "fantasized" view of the battle....

another thing that im rather curious about is the lack of horses among the pawnee.....i thought most plains indians where mounted by 1700 or so........

22nd September 2009, 09:02 PM	#1
pallas Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 53	significance of native american warpaint/bodypaint so this topic isnt directly about ethnographic weapons but i do believe that it is quite closely related to that subject... ive been curious as to the religious/cultural/political significance of native american warpaint, specifically the full body painting of the plains and southwest indians.......i had always wondered about the subject but had found rather scant information on the topic....my cuiosity got resurrected recently after seeing the painting of the battle between pedro de villasur/ L'Archeveque expedition and the pawnees at the loup/platte confluence in nebraska..... note the body painting of the pawnee, the warrior painted white with a black face with small red or black crosses all over his body, or the warrior with half his body white and the other half painted with what look like jaguar spots?....most seem to have half their heads painted white and the other half black.....i was also wondering how far east the practice of warrior-body painting extended in this country and also why these warriors were apparently nude or close to it...with the recent post about native american armor, id have thought perhaps some type of armor would have been depicted.......from what ive read, this painting has been judged accurate and not a "conceptualized" or "fantasized" view of the battle.... another thing that im rather curious about is the lack of horses among the pawnee.....i thought most plains indians where mounted by 1700 or so........