Museum Explorer
Dress and ornament in the Americas
Headdress
From: north-eastern North America
Date: 18th or 19th century AD
This impressive headdress would have been worn by a North American brave. He would attach it to a single lock of his hair, with the rest of his head shaved bald. It is made of porcupine quills and hair from the tail of a white deer dyed red and fastened to a piece of animal skin. These headdresses were common and were mostly made of black turkey beard, white deer tail dyed red, or moose hair.
Headdresses like this are still worn by native North Americans today, when taking part in pow-wow performances.
