Native American Shield, Ghost Dance

Miniature shield designed after the Ghost Dance drum.

Leather and pigmented indigenous miniature shield from the American West; 20th century.

Shields can be very helpful in protecting a warrior from physical harm, but the shield was believed to offer protective spiritual power as well. While many warring cultures had shields, those of the Indigenous nations of North America were unique in their range of protection.

The design on this shield is inspired from:

The Ghost Dance Drum
1891–1892
Made by George Beaver, Native American
Housed at The Met

A dark and powerful image of Thunderer, mythical ruler of the Sky World, dominates the painted design of this drum, symbolized by the thunderbird. Streaks of lightning shoot from the creature’s wings, eyes, and mouth. Below, a group of swallows flies before the storm that brings new life.

Pawnee doctor George Beaver made the drum for the age-old sacred hand game, a ritualized part of the tribe’s Ghost Dance ceremony. The Ghost Dance offered hope for a revival of traditional culture.

The final hope for salvation resided in dance and song, and this Ghost Dance drum, made in 1890 by George Beaver and shaped like a war shield, is an Oklahoma Pawnee painting of the spirit of release.

For more information on the Ghost Dance Drum, check out these links:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/639869?exhibitionId=%7B254A181E-CA25-4BC9-B15A-A167688D711B%7D&oid=639869&pkgids=294&pg=1&rpp=20&pos=19&ft=*

https://ascmag.com/blog/johns-bailiwick/artists-of-earth-and-sky-at-the-met