GIFT BOOKS IN BRIEF : SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN JEWELRY, <i> By Dexter Cirillo (Abbeville: $49.95; 240 pp.)</i>

People of the Southwest have been making jewelry and body ornaments from prehistoric times. The particular styles of turquoise and silver work that the Zuni, Hopi, Navajo and Pueblo people developed became quite recognizable to anyone who devoted a bit of time seriously looking and shopping.

But easy recognition is changing, and at remarkable speed, according to author Dexter Cirillo, whose beautiful coffee-table-sized book, “Southwestern Indian Jewelry,” will please anyone who has left Santa Fe or Sedona in tears.

Cirillo provides a brief and informative history of Southwestern jewelry-making and discusses the increasingly important Indian Market, an event in Santa Fe that attracts thousands of visitors from every corner of the globe.

The engaging portraits of the artists by Stephen Northup personalize the striking photos of the jewelry taken by Michel Monteaux. This is a chance to study in close-up some of the most dramatic and valuable jewelry being created today.