History · Turquoise · Jan 02, 2015

Tracing the Turquoise Road

The history of many gemstones reveals they were often one of the earliest forms of wealth in many prehistoric societies. Turquoise is an excellent example of how such stones can become not only prized possessions, but a window into past cultures. Archaeologists today are looking at the remnants of those early civilizations and piecing together the way ancient societies functioned and what they valued. The story of turquoise and the way it was traded among neighboring peoples is helping us understand the world of prehistoric North America.^G5

Juanita. Navajo (Diné). 1874. Photo by C.M. Bell.

The story that has been pieced together appears to show that in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican society, turquoise functioned as a status symbol for the elite. Its use was confined to the top strata of the society, to kings and priests and other noble families. The stone was associated with the sky, with deities and with life itself, therefore only the most powerful, the most noble could be allowed to wear it. This concept, along with the value placed on turquoise, has enabled archaeologists to understand the widespread connections between those living in the southwestern part of what is now the United States and those in areas of Central and South America.

Pueblo Bonito Chaco Culture National Historic Park, NM.

Since turquoise was restricted to the use of the elite, it became a valuable trade item between the nobility of the different settlements. Archaeologists have uncovered a large number of turquoise artifacts in the area of Chaco Canyon in what is now New Mexico. Many have long believed there were cultural connections between the settlement at Chaco Canyon and the civilizations in Mexico and further down in South America.
Between A.D. 975 and 1180, Chaco Canyon's workshops worked turquoise in enormous quantity (beads, pendants, flat mosaic tesserae), and, Dubin (1999, p. 473) writes, most of it travelled south to Mesoamerica. New Mexico's Cerrillos mine, famous, in Dubin's words, as “the New World's ‘mother lode’ of turquoise,” held a “centuries-old monopoly” until new thirteenth-century mines challenged it. ^[7]

Adding to this belief is the fact that the turquoise found in Chaco was located with burials or stored in caches at random spots. There is no indication of a spot set aside where the turquoise was worked and prepared for trade nor any caches of unworked stones. This appears to bolster the belief of some that Chaco itself was a major cultural center and turquoise was as valued there as it was elsewhere. Some archaeologists believe that the settlement at Chaco Canyon was used largely as a ceremonial center rather than a year-round living spot, which would explain the presence of so many turquoise artifacts.

Up the Acoma trail. Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico. ca. 1904. Photo by Carl Moon. Source – Huntington Digital Library

If Chaco Canyon was indeed a cultural center, then the trade between that area and the civilizations in Mexico and South America shows that these societies shared a connection. This connection was made stronger by the impressive system of roads surrounding Chaco. These roads extend to other sites considered Chacoan outlier settlements, such as the Chaco style great house at Aztec to the north.^N8

Due to the value placed on turquoise within these early societies, it appears that the trade of these artifacts between the elite and the powerful members of each group left a “turquoise road” that indicates the connections that existed between them. That value would remain even up to today, as turquoise is still highly prized for jewelry. Its use is no longer restricted to the few but its power is still treasured for the making of objects of amazing beauty.

From the Library: Pogue, The Turquois (1915)

1915 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1915, not today.

Writing in 1915, Pogue described what Cabeza de Vaca learned in Sonora in the 1530s:

“Among the Sierra Madre, about 90 miles east of the Yaqui River in Sonora, he found the Indians owning turquoises, and, inquiring their source, was informed that they were obtained in the distant north in exchange for parrot plumes.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 97

Citing Bandelier, Pogue (1915, p. 98) reported that in early Spanish times the Seri of Sonora traded Gulf of California shells for Zuni turquoise, and the Opata traded parrot skins and plumes for it.

Pogue (1915, p. 98) recorded that in the sixteenth century the Tano people held the Cerrillos turquoise deposits, guarded them closely, and used the turquoise as an important trade good.

Pogue's 1915 conclusion on where Mexico's turquoise came from:

“It therefore seems probable that the Aztecs and allied peoples, through trade with tribes to the north, obtained supplies of turquois from the Cerrillos hills and perhaps other localities of the Southwest.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 104

Writing in 1915, Pogue pointed to the surviving mosaics as the firmest evidence of which stones were used:

“Our most exact knowledge regarding the precious stones used by the aborigines of Mexico and Central America is derived from the minerals used in mosaics, of which 24 examples are extant. Of the green minerals used therein the turquois occurs in all, and jade, malachite, and beryl in a few.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 109

Pogue (1915) also cautioned against reading every prized green stone in the Spanish accounts as turquoise:

“The early Spanish writers confused several green stones under chalchihuitl.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 109

How tightly the green chalchihuitl (which Pogue concluded was probably jade) was restricted is shown by a passage from Las Casas that Pogue quoted in 1915:

“He that stole precious stones, and more especially the stone called chalchihuitl, no matter from whence he took it, was stoned to death in the market place, because no man of the lower orders was allowed to possess this stone.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 106

Of Cerrillos, New Mexico, Pogue argued in 1915:

“Indeed, this deposit must have supplied much of the turquois which was so widely used in pre-Spanish times, not only in the Southwest but in Mexico as well, for no other sources are now known at all adequate to account for the quantities employed.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 52

On the Old World side, Pogue (1915) noted that the Nishapur mines owed much to geography,

“and its position, close to important caravan routes, which for long were the chief arteries of commerce between the Orient and the Occident, has been of great importance in conditioning the distribution of the product.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 35

As of 1915, Pogue traced the Persian stones' route west:

“The Persian stones reach nearly all parts of the world. They come to Europe chiefly through dealers in Moscow; and in the same way ultimately reach America.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 39

Writing in 1915, Pogue noted:

“Following the discovery of America in 1492, and particularly the conquest of Mexico in 1519, the turquois found frequent mention in the writings of the Spanish chroniclers, Sahagun, Diaz, Gomara, Torquemada, Coronado, and Niza.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 16

Pogue (1915) recorded how turquoise-inlaid masks were taken from Mexico to Europe during the conquest:

“During the Spanish occupation of Mexico a number of very fine turquois-incrusted masks and other ornaments were brought to Europe. As early as 1553 a mask, now preserved in Rome, was noted in the Inventorio della Guardaroba Medicea”
— Pogue (1915), p. 16

Pogue (1915) quoted the archaeologist George H. Pepper's judgment that turquoise work from Pueblo Bonito showed that

“afford conclusive evidence that the people of Pueblo Bonito reached as high a degree of proficiency in the arts as those of any other pueblo in the Southwest.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 101

From the Library: Chambless & Ryan, Turquoise in America, Part One (2021)

2021 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2021, not today.

According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 26), what they call the very first turquoise rush in America ran from the tenth century into the thirteenth, carried by networks of farming villages across what is now New Mexico, centered on the San Juan River basin of the Four Corners and the Gila and Salt River basins of Arizona. ^[2]

On what moved along those routes, Chambless & Ryan (2021) write:

“The Hohokam traded shells for turquoise, and in turn traded turquoise for pyrite mirrors, copper bells, and more exotic items like scarlet macaws.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 26 ^[2]

On where Chaco's turquoise came from, Chambless & Ryan (2021) report that newer isotope work shows

“the turquoise artifacts in and around Pueblo Bonito originated not only from the Cerrillos area, but also from areas of present-day California, Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 29 ^[2]

According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 28), excavations showed Pueblo Bonito to be the largest Great House in Chaco Canyon and a major cultural and economic center, and more than 65,000 turquoise artifacts had been recovered there as of 2021. ^[2]

From the Library: Laufer, Notes on Turquois in the East (1913)

1913 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1913, not today.

According to Laufer (1913, p. 3), it was the Arabs, after the conquest of Persia in 642 AD, who carried Persian turquoise into India and China. ^[3]

Laufer (1913) drew the conclusion:

“and the fact is quite certain that only in this late period the Persian turquois began to conquer the market of the world.”
— Laufer (1913), p. 3 ^[3]

According to Laufer (1913, p. 3), the Arab scholar al-Beruni (973-1048) recorded Persian turquoise being exported into India, noting that Indian buyers preferred round stones with a convex surface. ^[3]

Of al-Beruni's note, Laufer wrote in 1913:

“This is so far also the earliest testimony for the presence of the turquois in India.”
— Laufer (1913), p. 4 ^[3]

According to Laufer (1913, p. 41), the Arab writer Tifashi (died 1253) said turquoise came from a mine in a mountain of Nishapur and was exported to all countries, which Laufer took as the first clear statement that Nishapur turquoise had entered world commerce. ^[3]

According to Laufer (1913, p. 59), a Mongol official collected turquoise at Karakorum in 1271; Laufer thought the old Mongol capital was probably a depot from which the stone was traded to the Mongol and Tungusic tribes, not a source. ^[3]

As of 1913, Laufer described the East Asian end of the trade:

“At the present time there are two distributing centers in China for the trade in turquoises, — Peking commanding the market of Mongolia, and Si-ngan fu controlling the trade with Tibet.”
— Laufer (1913), p. 63 ^[3]

Laufer (1913) on how the stone moved on into Tibet:

“Beads and stones are purchased there by Chinese commercial travelers trading with Tibetans and employed by them as a means of barter.”
— Laufer (1913), p. 63 ^[3]

From the Library: Kunz, Gems and Precious Stones of North America (1890)

1890 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1890, not today.

Kunz (1890) quoted Fray Marcos de Niza's 1539 report of the people of Cibola:

“the people have emeralds and other jewels, although they esteem none so much as turquoises, wherewith they adorn the walls of the porches of their houses and apparel and vessels, and they use them instead of money through all the country.”
— Kunz (1890), p. 63 ^[4]

According to Kunz (1890, p. 63), Coronado, who reached the same place in 1540, denied Niza's statement about turquoise on the porches of the houses, but he did obtain turquoise ear-rings and tablets set with the stones. ^[4]

Kunz (1890) cited Bernal Diaz on the first gifts from Montezuma's ambassador:

“Diaz states that the chalchihuitls were green stones of uncommon value, and held in higher estimation among the Indians than the smaragdus or emerald was among the Spaniards.”
— Kunz (1890), p. 62 ^[4]

Of the gems sent to Charles V, Kunz (1890) was confident:

“It is a well authenticated fact that these gems referred to were turquoises, and it is believed that they are now among the crown jewels of Spain.”
— Kunz (1890), p. 63 ^[4]

From the Library: Khazeni, Sky Blue Stone (2014)

2014 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2014, not today.

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 13), gem merchants in Mashhad sorted, cut and polished Nishapur turquoise before it travelled the overland caravan routes across Central Asia, South Asia and the Near East. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 3), by the sixteenth century turquoise was travelling from Nishapur through the cities of the eastern Islamic world to Venice, Paris and other European markets, where it was coveted as an exotic object from the East. ^[5]

Khazeni (2014) on how European dealers graded what arrived:

“In the cities of “Farangistan,” turquoises with favorable size, shape, and—most important —color were classified as ring stones and sold by the piece, while smaller stones were merchandised by weight.”
— Khazeni (2014), p. 14 ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 22), the tenth-century Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi named turquoise the main export of Nishapur and noted that its stones ornamented the prayer niches of mosques as far away as Damascus. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 26), al-Tifaschi's Azhar al-Afkar recorded that the Berber princes of the Maghrib coveted Nishapur turquoise for swords and rings and paid ten Moroccan dinars for a single stone. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 29), even after the earthquake of 1405 Nishapur remained the heartland of turquoise and the axis of its global trade, yielding the most sought-after sky-blue stone in the world; in the Timurid period turquoise travelled farther and in greater volume than ever before, across Central Asia, South Asia and the Near East. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 41), evidence about the middlemen is scarce because European merchants and companies could not break into the turquoise trade, but certain clues suggest that the Armenian merchants of Julfa, in the Safavid capital Isfahan, had a hand in it through their long-distance networks. ^[5]

Khazeni (2014) on the road to India:

“With the mines of Nishapur being located in the eastern Iranian province of Khurasan, which lay astride the trade routes to the Indian subcontinent, turquoise became an iconic object of exchange between the Safavid and Mughal Empires.”
— Khazeni (2014), p. 47 ^[5]

Khazeni (2014) on the Afghan crossroads:

“Between the sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries, the oasis city of Qandahar in southeastern Afghanistan was on the caravan routes that connected Safavid Iran and Mughal India and traversed Central Asia.”
— Khazeni (2014), p. 51 ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 56), the goods carried through the caravanserais and bazaars of Timurid Eurasia included the opaque blue stones of Khurasan, the turquoise of Nishapur and the lapis lazuli of Badakhshan, along with the cobalt and copper ores used for the blue glazes of Islamic architecture. ^[5]

Khazeni (2014) tied the stone's trade to pilgrimage:

“Networks of shrines and pilgrimage across the empire augmented the trade and export of commodities and precious objects such as turquoise.”
— Khazeni (2014), p. 63 ^[5]

Khazeni (2014) closed his chapter on the blue cities this way:

“Stones of turquoise, mined in the mountains of Nishapur, at the crossroads of the overland routes linking Central Asia, Iran, and India, were transported, strewn, and scattered”
— Khazeni (2014), p. 70 ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 75), trade links between Tabriz, capital of the Aq Quyunlu (White Sheep) Turkmen, and Venice carried turquoise and other precious stones from Asia to Europe; the Venetian Joseph Barbaro, at Tabriz in 1474, called the city a thriving entrepôt. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 76), the Venetian Ambrosio Bembo found in 1674 a whole bazaar of jewels on the Maydan-i Naqsh-i Jahan in Isfahan, with many turquoise and lapis lazuli stones gathered from the provinces, and described a busy trade in stones among the Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal empires. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 84), the turquoise the Spanish found in Mexico did not enter the global gem trade: it was too green for European taste, which prized sky blue, and most of it was already set as tesserae in Aztec regalia, so on the market only the sky-coloured Nishapur stones were counted true turquoise. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 105), pilgrims to the shrine of Imam Riza at Mashhad bought great numbers of stones in Fraser's day, wanting to carry home a turquoise ring from the sacred city. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 119), Europeans never gained a foothold in the Persian turquoise trade or bought directly at the Nishapur mines; Mashhad merchants sent stones to their own agents in Europe, where they sold for three to four times the price at the mines. ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 123), the opening of the Russian Trans-Caspian Railway tied Nishapur and Mashhad more closely into world trade, raising the value of turquoise tenfold in Mashhad, which sent its best stones to Europe in unprecedented volume; Florence's jewelers were said to have 'trunks full' of Persian stones. ^[5]

Khazeni (2014) closed his history of the trade with the name itself:

“And turquoise, known for centuries as a stone mined in eastern Iran and named for the route of its trade to Europe through the lands of the Ottoman Turks, became the classification of stones mined by “Indians” in the American West.”
— Khazeni (2014), p. 132 ^[5]

According to Khazeni (2014, p. 133), the turquoise trade persisted and even grew in volume into the nineteenth century, but the stone's earlier meaning as a sacred, imperial stone faded and was forgotten. ^[5]

From the Library: Lowry, Turquoise Unearthed: An Illustrated Guide (2002)

2002 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2002, not today.

Lowry (2002) on how far the stone travelled:

“During this prehistoric period, turquoise mined in the American Southwest was exchanged with peoples residing as far east as the Mississippi River, and trade also extended west and south to the Pacific Coast and Gulf of California.”
— Lowry (2002), p. 14 ^[6]

According to Lowry (2002, p. 14), the peoples of Mexico traded parrot and macaw feathers, copper bells and seashells for the turquoise they wanted, and such goods have been found in many ancient Southwestern settlements, notably Chaco Canyon and Pecos Pueblo. ^[6]

Field Notes by Mateo James

Pogue (1915) argued that Cerrillos must have supplied much of the turquoise used in pre-Spanish times. Chambless & Ryan (2021) report newer isotope work that traces Pueblo Bonito turquoise to Cerrillos and also to deposits in California, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. I tend to side with Chambless & Ryan.

I notice Kunz (1890) called it a well-authenticated fact that the chalchihuitl gems sent to Charles V were turquoise, while Pogue (1915) warned that the Spanish writers lumped several green stones under that name and thought the prized chalchihuitl was probably jade.

I notice Khazeni (2014) calls the turquoise the Spanish found in Mexico chalchihuitl in Nahuatl. Pogue (1915) warned that the Spanish writers lumped several green stones under that word and thought the prized chalchihuitl was probably jade, while Kunz (1890) took the chalchihuitl sent to Charles V to be turquoise.

Sources

Pogue, Joseph E. The Turquois: A Study of Its History, Mineralogy, Geology, Ethnology, Archaeology, Mythology, Folklore, and Technology. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. XII, Part II, Third Memoir. Washington, 1915. Public domain. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1915.
Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One: The Great American Turquoise Rush, 1890–1910. Revised first edition. Callais Press, 2021. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2021.
Laufer, Berthold. Notes on Turquois in the East. Field Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Series, Vol. XIII, No. 1. Chicago, 1913. Public domain. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1913.
Kunz, George F. Gems and Precious Stones of North America. New York: The Scientific Publishing Company, 1890. Public domain. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1890.
Khazeni, Arash. Sky Blue Stone: The Turquoise Trade in World History. The California World History Library 20. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2014.
Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise Unearthed: An Illustrated Guide. Photography by Mark Nohl. Tucson, AZ: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2002. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2002.
Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1999.