When I’m asked about Gallup, New Mexico, I always seem to give the same answer:
Gallup is a border town surrounded by the Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi Reservations. Many residents from these communities come to Gallup to trade, and we get visitors from around the world looking to buy Native American art made by Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi artisans.
That answer is true—but it doesn’t really capture the depth and uniqueness of this area, or the people who live in and around it.
I could write for days about each of the tribes that surround Gallup, but today’s blog post is about Zuni.
No one really knows how long the Zuni have lived in their current homeland—but it’s safe to say they’ve been there for a very long time. If you grow up in this part of the world, you’re taught early on about the Spanish Conquistadors who believed Zuni was one of the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. That was the first time Zuni showed up in written history—but the Zuni people had already been there for thousands of years before the Spanish ever arrived.
If you’ve ever read The Book of the Hopi, you may know that the Hopi (who live in Oraibi, the oldest continuously inhabited village in the United States—established around 1150 AD) believed the Zuni were once Hopi who simply didn’t finish their migration to the four corners of the world. Whether legend or fact, there’s a deep connection between these communities.
Zuni is only about a 40-minute drive from Gallup, crossing through some of the most beautiful high desert in New Mexico. The road ends in a valley surrounded by red rock mesas that easily rival the beauty of Sedona. But you won’t find Sedona’s resort amenities here—Zuni remains much like it was a hundred years ago, with old pueblo-style buildings, traditional bread ovens, and a vast sense of openness.
When Zuni silversmiths first started making jewelry, they learned from a Navajo silversmith named Atsidi Chon. So, I imagine that early Zuni pieces likely looked a lot like early Navajo jewelry. But it didn’t take long for Zuni artists to develop their own style.
Bill Richardson once told me that part of the reason Zuni jewelry evolved differently was because the Zuni village had electricity much earlier than many parts of the Navajo Nation. With electric grinders, Zuni artists were able to shape smaller stones, allowing for the fine, detailed stonework that became their hallmark. Meanwhile, many early Navajo silversmiths—often working without electricity—relied on cabochons provided by traders. Some parts of the Navajo Reservation didn’t have electricity until the mid-1900s.
That theory has always made sense to me. But I also like to think the Zuni had a head start on stonework. Long before they learned silversmithing, they had already mastered carving and shaping stone.
In the 1870s, anthropologist Frank Cushing began studying the Zuni people. His work introduced the wider world to Zuni fetishes and opened a small window into their spiritual and artistic traditions.
Today, if you visit Zuni, you can stop by artist co-ops or a few trading posts—some owned by non-Zuni tribal members—and shop for jewelry, carvings, or pottery. But even if you’re not buying anything, it’s worth the drive just for the red rocks, the history, and (if you’re lucky) a homemade tamale.