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Message:: [QUOTE="Taupou, post: 9476589, member: 45"]What many don't realize, is that the "style" of kachina carving has changed over the years, from the static depiction of kachinas with arms close to the body (1 and 5, above), to more detailed and decorated (2 and 3), to the action-styles showing dancers and hunters in the 1990s (which required cottonwood bases), to the all-wood elaborate sculptures popular today. It has little to do with the purpose of the carving (although changes in styles did influence sales), and doesn't negate the need to accurately represent actual kachinas (which non-Hopi carvers usually do.) The style helps date the authentic kachina dolls.  Before they were even made for sale, most kachina dolls were similar to 1 and 5 above. But ever since Hopi (and Zuni) carvers have also been carving for collectors (as well as for use as teaching devices), they have been making changes in the general style.  And that excludes making "fantasy figures" for the tourist trade. Carving accurate depictions of actual kachinas is still vital to traditionally-trained Hopi and Zuni carvers, and central to their belief system.[/QUOTE]