Turquoise

Joe Dan Lowry

• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781423602897
• eBook ISBN: 9781423619802
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

Turquoise has been mined on six continents and traded by cultures throughout the world's history, including the Europeans, Chinese, Mayan, Aztec, Inca, and Southwest Native Americans. It has been set in silver and gold jewelry, cut and shaped into fetish animals, and even formed to represent gods in many religions. This gemstone is displayed in museums around the world, representing the arts and traditions of prehistoric, historic, and modern societies. Turquoise focuses on the latest information in science and art from the greatest turquoise collections around the globe.

Learning the International History of Turquoise

The Center of Your World

In ancient times, the center of a society and what influenced it did not extend very far past the everyday needs of food, water, shelter, and safety. The range of influence on a small tribe could be limited from as little as five miles to as great as several hundred. As trade routes were established, a tribe’s influence and affluence in traditions and beliefs as well as tools and art could be shared over greater distances with other tribes. Thus, trade routes and traders became a lifeline of commerce, and the world has since become a smaller place. Turquoise has spanned the globe from Egypt and the Levant (the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea) to Greece, east to Mesopotamia, and throughout Persia, Afghanistan, China, Europe, and into the worlds of Mesoamerica, South America, and North America.

Inside out look at Turquoise Hill, Cerrillos, New Mexico. Photo by Joe Dan Lowry; courtesy of Turquoise Museum.

Celebrated Civilizations

The beginning of turquoise mining and the historical accounts of its uses and folklore coincide with several celebrated civilizations in world history. The Egyptian, Persian, Chinese, Tibetan, Incan, Mesoamerican, and Southwest Native American cultures all employed turquoise. Many European and Asian countries such as Germany, India, and Russia have also used turquoise in art and ornamentation. What these and other cultures produced in mining, lapidary, beliefs, and uses in art have become celebrated through oral tradition, trade, literature, and ornamentation. As each of these societies have made their indelible mark in history, their beliefs and uses of turquoise have also become legendary. The turquoise mines, the influential art, and the appreciation these civilizations had for turquoise is still present in collections around the world. When visiting a museum or reading a book about these renowned civilizations and cultures, a person becomes very much aware that turquoise is more than just another colorful stone.

Sterling silver squash blossom set with Fox turquoise, Nevada, ca. 1970s. Photo by Davonna Lowry; courtesy of Turquoise Museum.

Trade

As its appreciation and demand grew, turquoise deposits around the world became more valuable as the gemstone began to be distributed across lands to far away civilizations and cultures. As various cultures developed from their Stone Age to a Neolithic Period and then to the Bronze Age and forward, people developed their skills in arts and crafts, tools, and all the trappings that eventually influenced today’s societies. The major deposits that supplied the ancient societies with their turquoise are located in the modern countries of Egypt (Sinai), Iran, China, Chile, Mexico, and the United States. Today when archeologists and paleontologists study past cultures, they consider pottery and dwellings as well as jewels and jewelry because sources of metals and gems are limited to certain areas around the world. So if turquoise artifacts are discovered at an archeological dig site and if there is no nearby turquoise mine source, the assumption can be made that trade occurred. Therefore, turquoise artifacts can be one of the most important archeological finds that can trace the trade routes of past cultures. Where the source of a specific turquoise was mined, what kind of tools shaped it, and how it was used in ornamentation can be useful information when studying history. Many traders, explorers, merchants, and, later, archeologists have made numerous observations throughout history as to the mine sources, uses, and trade of turquoise and turquoise-inlaid artifacts, and it is from these studies that so much history and information of turquoise are drawn.

Egypt

The mining and trade of turquoise within the Egyptian culture is attested to by the many pieces of artifacts that have been found in the tombs of Egyptian rulers, located in various archeological sites and mentioned in hieroglyphics. The first major sources of turquoise that were used in this area’s artifacts is said to be from the mines located in the Sinai Peninsula. This forbidding and rugged area became one of the world’s first important hard-rock mining areas for turquoise, malachite, and copper. The early miners of the Sinai Peninsula were originally nomadic groups who camped at the mine locations and then carried the turquoise with them to trade. Archeological studies about Egypt’s history and its surrounding areas by famous archeologist Sir Flinders Petrie continued to excite the world’s fascination with these ancient lands. One area of mines in the Sinai became known as Wadi Maghara, and the other area of mines is called Serabit el-Khadim.^[36]

Initial use and trade

By 4500 BC, Egyptian civilization had reached the Predynastic Period. Evidence of turquoise in a Badarian tomb was found in a small collection of beads that consisted of carnelian, serpentine, agate, and one turquoise. The turquoise bead’s source was probably from the Sinai and was traded across Egypt’s delta to the Levant. By the Naqada Period (3200–2686 BC), Egyptian trade to the east continued to increase. The Sinai sources of turquoise and its malachite and copper ores were becoming more important as civilization developed. Hieroglyphic rock inscriptions near the Wadi Maghara turquoise mines (3100–1069 BC) mention this area’s ore production, and pre-Canaanite inscriptions dated to the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) refer to this area as the “Terraces of the Turquoise.” Old and Middle Kingdom pottery and potsherds have been found here along with stone-pounders, picks, and mauls that would have been used for mining the areas deposits.^[37]

Egypt and Sinai Peninsula Turquoise Sources

8000 BC: Pre-Canaanite nomads begin turquoise mining on the SW Sinai Peninsula in Wadi Maghara.

3200 BC: Gold and turquoise jewelry found in Abydos, Upper Egypt, in the First Dynasty tomb of King Djer.

3000 BC: Assyrian glass used in Egypt.

2025 BC: Egyptians begin mining turquoise on the Sinai Peninsula at Serabit el-Khadim.

4000 BC: Turquoise beads found in Upper Egypt in a Predynastic Period Badarian tomb.

3100 BC: Egyptians begin mining turquoise at Wadi Maghara.

2630 BC: Faience found in Lower Egypt at the tomb of Djoser.

Egyptian mining

More inscriptions were discovered on surrounding columns of stone, and their translations have recorded some of the many expeditions that the kings of Egypt sent to the Sinai for turquoise and copper. One inscription commemorating an expedition to these mines from the Third Dynasty (2686–2613 BC) is located on the far right side of the rock. The inscription is said to be the first written example of the Egyptian word for turquoise.^[38] The inscription mfkzt has had three different translations—malachite, copper, and turquoise—each of which has been extracted from these areas. Another inscription about mining in the area depicts Amenemhat III dispatching 734 men to collect copper and turquoise under the command of the Chief Chamberlain of the Treasury, Khentektayhotep-Khenomsu.^[39]

Ceremonial uses

The Egyptian cult goddess Hathor was a predynastic deity who was worshipped for love, motherhood, and joy. At the temple of Hathor in Sinai, inscriptions have been translated referring to Hathor as the “Lady of the Turquoise Country.” The tale of Hathor states that turquoise was sacred to her because the colors of blue and green symbolize both fertility and rebirth. Later mfkzt became a synonym for joy, indicating the auspicious nature of the stone.^[40]

As with many ancient cultures, kings were looked up to and even worshiped as deities. It was this honor of royalty and godly virtues that reflect the central control that the Egyptian kings had over the land and its people along with the society’s belief system. The kings owned the land and its subterranean resources, and the color of turquoise in particular has been linked to the exaltation of many deities. In the 12th Dynasty, Amenemhat I (3559–3429 BC) began his reign, and numerous records about the mining activities in the Sinai were kept for six kings in succession. These records reveal the importance of commemorating royal deeds and noting the divine nature this gem and other material imparts to the king. At Serabit el-Khadim (2025–1069 BC), the Middle and New Kingdoms’ inscriptions from this site record the use of sea transport and overland caravans of fifty to five hundred donkeys and two hundred to seven hundred men, generally led by treasury officials. Several mine sites and a temple to Hathor were at Serabit el-Khadim, the larger of the two major mining areas in the Sinai.^[41]

Extended trade

The Nile provided Egypt’s first major trade route as it connected Uppe...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Knowing the Mystical Qualities of Turquoise
• Learning the International History of Turquoise
• Studying the Geology and Mineralogy of Turquoise
• Mining Turquoise
• Cutting Turquoise—Lapidary Work
• Grading and Caring for Turquoise
• Identifying Turquoise Imitations
• Mapping Classic Turquoise Mines
• Map: Turquoise Mines of the Southwest
• Bibliography