Turquoise Inlay
Turquoise Inlay
The Historical Story of Turquoise
Depending on which historian or gemologist you ask, the history of turquoise goes back between six and eight thousand years. Of course, if you ask a geologist, you will learn that the history of turquoise goes back nearly forty million years! But that’s a story for a different article. Historical records suggest that turquoise was extracted the Sinai Peninsula by ancient Egyptians around 4,000 BC. Records left during the time period of about 2923-2915 BC during the reign of Senerkhet document extensive mining operations in Egypt, involving hundreds of individuals. Archaeological excavations found the Breast Plate of Pharaoh Sesostris II. This plate has an amazing display of highly skilled turquoise inlay work. There are others who claim that jewelry such as turquoise pendants and beads were found in Mesopotamia which date back to 5000 BC.
The Persians were the next civilization to discover this beautiful gemstone. However, this discovery occurred only hundreds of years after the Egyptian finds. The physical and visual qualities of turquoise from ancient Persia were – and continue to be – some of the best found anywhere in the world. More importantly, the Persians did not did not dictate who could and who couldn’t own turquoise like the Egyptians did. While Egyptians allowed only people of high standing in their society to own this gemstone, any one in Persia who could afford to buy turquoise was allowed to own it. This helped spread the popularity of turquoise immensely.
Turkey played a key role in the spread of turquoise around the world. Turkey is situated at the cross roads of Asia and Europe. It soon became an important trading center for turquoise and helped bring this gem to civilizations of the Mediterranean. Turkey gained such high importance that that the stone was given a name related to the country. It is believed that turquoise comes from the French phrase that roughly translates to Turkish Stone. The only explanation for this origin is that the Europeans mistakenly believed that the turquoise was found in Turkey. Although the turquoise may have been purchased in Turkey, the stone was probably found in the Sinai or Persia. Turkey in fact had and has only very minor deposits of turquoise.
In North America, turquoise was first discovered by the native tribes about eleven centuries ago. The earliest mining operations were carried out in Cerrillos near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Native Americans had high regard for this stone and believed that it symbolized the joining of heaven and earth. They always thought of it a holy and lucky stone. They believed that it protected them from harm and therefore wore it during battles and on hunting expeditions. Some tribes believed that the stone had special powers for men and women depending on its color. The blue stones were considered to be symbols of male power, while green specimens were thought of as female power stones. The development of southwestern turquoise jewelry received a big boost with the advent of the Europeans who brought silver with them. Native artists soon mastered the art of creating beautiful Silver Turquoise jewelry that represented their culture and beliefs of the time. Today, southwestern artists continue to create some wonderful pieces of traditional and some more contemporary and innovative jewelry designs. Including turquoise in pieces of other materials such as cultured pearl necklaces and coral bracelets are relatively new trends that have gained in popularity in recent years.
About the Author
Dale is a geo-professional in the Southwestern United States, and an avid and amateur gemmologist and a jewelry buff.
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