This is a bunch of owl feathers that would be tied into a hairnet and worn on the back of the dancer's head. They would be secrued with the pin. See 08.491.8802

Plume stick consisting of a wooden handle and two feathers attached to the handle by two cords of white beads.This pin would be stuck into the bunch of owl feathers (08.491.8807). These items are part of the feathered headgear stuck into a hairnet and tied at the back of a dancer's head.

The object, a dance shield, is one of a pair commissioned by Culin for the Museum. The difference between the two is that this shield has a painted pale blue sun with light red stars and the other (03.325.3504) has a pale red sun with light blue stars.

The object, a dance shield, is one of a pair commissioned by Culin for the Museum. The difference between the two is that this shield has a painted, pale red sun with light blue stars and the other (03.325.3505) has a pale blue sun with light red stars.

This cap was part of Brooklyn Museum curator Stewart Culin's personal collection but was originally owned by Frank Hamilton Cushing as part of his own Zuni clothing that he wore. Cushing's acceptance into the Zuni Bow Society was the culmination of his career. Cushing believed the Bow Priesthood to be the most powerful, elaborately organized of all associations. This cap of perforated buckskin is one of the badges of office in the priesthood. It is exceptionally finely crafted.

These are delicate earrings made by carving individual shell beads in a technique known as heshi beads. The original heshi beads were made of shells ground into very small, fine beads strung into necklaces. Here, the turquoise is done in a similar manner in addition to the coral.

Worn by both men and women, tubes of bone or wood pushed through the ear were a common form of personal adornment in central California.These have been elaborately decorated with feathers and clamshell.

This type of headdress is restricted to women wearing it. The quill decorations are commonly used on many dance regalia articles in southern California.The decorations mounted on slender wires will move as the wearer moves.

This ceremonial plume would have been worn straight across the back of the head, stuck into a hair net. Curator Culin's informant, George, said that it indicated his rank as captain and it had been a gift to him. The raw materials are responsible for much of the effect of wealth and prestige. The larger piliated woodpecker does not live around Chico; its feathers must be traded in from the mountains. This pin employs sixteen of its scalps- a multiple of four, the sacred number. The manzanita wood for the shaft is especially hard and difficult to carve.

This Doctor's headdress was probably made by Dr. Hudson using gull feathers his wife gathered with special permission from the game warden. The Big-Head headdress or Kuksu shna, a ceremony involving the impersonation of a god. The feathers are attached to a twined redbud or dogwood framework, and a projecting snout, representing the long nose of the Kuksu spirit, is composed of short feathers attached to a stick. There has been some confusion as to if this is made correctly or it may have been rendered slightly differently by Hudson after a particular Pomo group.