History of Turquoise

People have long been captivated by the unique colors of Turquoise and as jewelry it has been worn for thousands of years. Egyptian tombs, dating back to 3000 BC have been found with turquoise adorning them. But the earliest sign of turquoise was found in ancient Persia, dating as far back as 6,000 BC. Turquoise is among some of the very first gems that were mined. Ancient Persians used turquoise extensively for decorating palace domes because it’s beautiful sky blue color represented heaven.

The Persians name for turquoise was, “pirouzeh”, which meant victory. They would wear turquoise around their necks and in their turbans. They also would adorn their horses’ bridals and daggers with it, believing the turquoise would give them protection.

Turquoise became more popular when Turkish traders used the Silk Road, in the 13th century to bring the stone to Europe. The name “turquoise”, comes from the French “pierre tourques”, meaning, Turkish stone. Persian turquoise is known for its “robin egg” color.

The Egyptians used turquoise for jewelry with gold as rings, necklaces, carvings and even inlay art. King Tut’s 24 pound gold burial mask was adorned with turquoise and other stones.

Egyptians called turquoise, “mefkat”, it means joy and delight.

In the Americas the Anasazi and Hohokam Native Indians used turquoise as far back as 200 BC. In Arizona the Indians mined turquoise at what is now the Kingman and Morenci mines. Popular places in Mexico for turquoise mining could be found in the Cerrillos and Burro mountain areas.

Shamans used turquoise for ceremonies to reach the spirit of the sky.

Apache Indians would incorporate using turquoise to adorn weapons for protection and to improve a hunter’s accuracy.

Early Native American jewelry consisted of turquoise beads, mosaic inlay, chunky turquoise jewelry and turquoise necklaces. Native Americans combined their lapidary skill of stone cutting with silver to produce turquoise jewelry that is popularly known as Indian jewelry today. Navajo turquoise jewelry has become known around the world as Indian jewelry of the southwest.

Turquoise, The Stone

Turquoise formed nearly 30 million years ago when water trickled through shallow host rock, leaving behind deposits of copper, zinc and aluminum. The actual color of Turquoise in a particular area is determined by the amount of these metals in the ground where the Turquoise forms.

The blue shade of turquoise is determined by how much copper is present.. The deeper the shade of blue in turquoise means there was more copper. Green turquoise forms where there is less copper and iron is present. When the turquoise mineral is forming, iron may take the place of some of the copper, turning the stone into darker shades of green. Adding aluminum can create a whiter effect, such as White Buffalo. Zinc in greater amounts can produce yellow-greens in turquoise..

The host rock, or matrix, can be made from several different elements such as pyrite, chert, quartz, cuperite, and manganese oxide, to name a few. Spider web turquoise is made up of small nuggets naturally cemented together with rock or matrix formed from these other elements of the host rock. A black matrix is often created by pyrite and yellow to brown is created by iron oxide. Turquoise mines produce varying colors and matrixes.

Each mine and each vein within a turquoise mine can yield yet its own characteristics. One of the most famous and prized spider web turquoise found in turquoise jewelry comes from the Number 8 turquoise mine in the American Southwest. At the Kingman mine, the Turquoise found there can vary from green to a very beautiful blue. Often the green shades are found closer to the surface and the deeper you mine, the turquoise can become a deeper shade of blue.

Most Turquoise in America is found in the southern states and in higher and dry regions, usually from 3,000 to 9,000 feet in elevation. The states responsible for the most Turquoise production are Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado. Arizona has some very famous Turquoise mines such as Bisbee, Morenci and Kingman Mines. Turquoise from these mines comes in shades of Blue to Green and many variations of blue to greens can be found. Usually, Some of the most prized Turquoise can have 3 or more different shades of color in a stone. . Sleeping Beauty mine is popular for its robin’s egg blue Turquoise.

The matrix, or host rock, found surrounding the Turquoise can be a “fingerprint” of which mine the stone came from. The matrix can also create a lot of beautiful characteristics in a Turquoise gemstone. Spider web Turquoise is some of the most prized for jewelry making, such as from Number 8 Turquoise Mine in Nevada. Smoke, or smokey matrix is also very sought after such as found in Bisbee Turquoise, where the matrix seems to flow like wafting smoke, between color patches.