Turquoise in Culture & History

Lowry (2010) on the earliest Southwest work:

“The initial art of the Native Americans was to drill and string turquoise into necklaces or to use small pieces of turquoise in mosaic designs set on wood, shell, or bone.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 78 ^[1]

Lowry (2010) dated the silver styles:

“It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that silver began to be developed into the styles that would become known as "Indian Jewelry."”
— Lowry (2010), p. 78 ^[1]

Branson (1975) began with who made the form:

“This type necklace has been called the traditional Navajo necklace although it was made and worn first by the Pueblo Indians.”
— Branson (1975), p. 58 ^[2]

On its long history among the Navajo, Branson (1975) wrote:

“The traditional necklace has been very popular with the Navajo for a long time. It is shown being worn by both men and women in the earliest pictures taken of Indians in the Southwest.”
— Branson (1975), p. 58 ^[2]

According to Branson (1975, p. 58), the Navajo seldom made this type of necklace themselves; as of 1975 it had long been the most important trade item, together with jaclas, of the Pueblo peoples of the Rio Grande Valley. ^[2]

Branson (1975) also recorded a trade name for one variant:

“Sometimes called "tab" necklaces because of the tabular shape of the turquoise pieces”
— Branson (1975), p. 58 ^[2]

Branson (1975) opened his pages on mosaic work with:

“Turquoise mosaics are probably some of the most fascinating examples of jewelry, prehistoric or modern.”
— Branson (1975), p. 18 ^[2]

Branson (1975, p. 19) illustrated Santo Domingo (Kewa Pueblo) turquoise fragment earrings overlaid on both sides over a wooden core, alongside a Santo Domingo mosaic pendant overlaid on red abalone shell. ^[2]

Branson (1975, p. 19) also showed a Zuni inlay on pearl shell whose turquoise, jet and coral design he likened to the eagle motif usually seen on pottery. ^[2]

Branson (1975) captioned a multi-strand necklace:

“A turquoise fetish necklace of the early 1950's representing the work of several Zuni carvers including David Tsikewa and The Sam Delana Family.”
— Branson (1975), p. 22 ^[2]

Of a row of small Zuni carvings, Branson (1975) noted:

“These are made for sale or trade rather than ceremonial use.”
— Branson (1975), p. 22 ^[2]

Branson (1975, p. 22) illustrated a turquoise carving by Charles Loloma of Hotevilla, depicting the blue corn maidens, with the turquoise combined with ironwood and gold. ^[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. ^[3]

According to Kunz (1890, p. 61), while Major Hyde was exploring at Cerrillos in 1880, several Pueblo men from San Domingo (now Kewa Pueblo) told him the turquoise he was taking from the old mine was sacred and should not leave their hands, and offered to buy all that might come from the mine in future. His account is an outside observer's record; the Pueblos are the authority on their own history. ^[4]

Bedinger (1973, p. 165) recorded a story shared by Laguna and Acoma, collected by Gunn: a maiden who lived near the sea shed bits of metal and valuable stones from her hair every time she washed it. Bedinger read it as a memory, handed down by word of mouth, of the precious materials the Spaniards brought. ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 171), a Santo Domingo (Kewa Pueblo) account recorded by White told that when their people emerged from the underworld with two other Pueblo groups, the Santo Domingos promised, before they parted, to make beads for the other Indians. ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 49), few early settings of stones other than turquoise survive, because once turquoise became available it displaced them; she wrote that turquoise alone was held to have magical qualities and religious significance. ^[5]

Bedinger (1973) recorded the place of turquoise at Zuni:

“To turquoise the Zunis assign a paramount place in their religion and mythology. Veneration for the blue stone permeates their philosophy and thought.”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 141 ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 143), Navajo (Diné) people revered turquoise for its beauty and firmly believed in its magic qualities, yet in their jewelry silver came first. ^[5]

Frank (1990), an outside observer writing in the late 1970s, opened his book with this reading:

“"Beauty" is a quality the Navajos particularly appreciate; it is a repeated theme in their songs and chants and it is manifested directly in their weaving and jewelry.”
— Frank (1990), p. 3 ^[6]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 82), Washington Matthews wrote that the cross widely worn by Navajos was understood among them not as the Christian cross but as a symbol of the morning star, although he thought its lengthened lower arm was copied from the Christian form. ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 78), John G. Bourke obtained at Santo Domingo Pueblo in 1881 a solid silver crescent outlining the man in the moon, and was told that Navajos occasionally made the ornament and connected it with the Woman in the Western Ocean; Mrs. Stevenson had spoken of the crescent as a world symbol in Pueblo belief. Bedinger found none of these readings explained and concluded that authentic information on the naja's meaning was scarce. ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 138), the writer Charles Lummis acquired at Manuelito, near Zuni, an old Zuni wrist-guard whose silver top was engraved with what he called the sacred image of the full-rayed sun, and said he was never able to find another. ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 182), the double-barred cross resembled the Pueblos' long-established dragonfly symbol on prehistoric pottery, down to the curved end of the tail. The dragonfly was sacred because it represented water, and in many pueblos, notably Zuni and Acoma, the cross was called a dragonfly. ^[5]

Bedinger (1973, p. 182) found it unclear why so many of these crosses end in a heart. Mera suggested an anatomical detail, as on the ancient pottery figures, while Bedinger was reminded of the heart in Christian religious paintings and thought the two symbolisms might be mixed. ^[5]

According to Frank (1990, p. 111, Fig. 130), the double-barred cross pendant on a Pueblo necklace of about 1915 ended in an engraved sacred heart, a Catholic symbol; he added that the double-barred form and its heart-like base were also found in Plains Indian jewelry, where they were thought to represent a stylized dragonfly. ^[6]

According to Frank (1990, p. 158, Fig. 193), a double-barred silver cross ending in a heart shape, circa 1870, from a San Juan Pueblo necklace of the 1890s matched a double-barred dragonfly painted on a small Zuni jar of about 1900, and he wrote that the dragonfly and the butterfly above it were both symbols for water, particularly at Zuni. ^[6]

According to Frank (1990, p. 177, Fig. 220), the Pueblo double-barred cross had at one time been the Pueblo and Plains "dragonfly" symbol, and the silver cross form was shared so widely that an 1880s double-barred cross that once hung on a New Mexican santo could not be assigned to an Indian, New Mexican or Mexican smith. ^[6]

According to Frank (1990, p. 170, Fig. 211), the "X" stamped in the center of small sandcast Pueblo-style crosses, circa 1900, was typical of Mexican work of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and was, as of the late 1970s, still in use. ^[6]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 218), there was a short-lived movement among the White Mountain and Cibecue Apaches from 1903 to 1907 whose members wore a silver cross with a crescent moon above it on the front of the shirt or blouse, hung with small conchas hammered from dimes. ^[5]

Frank (1990, p. 61, Fig. 61) recorded a silver cross with a filed edge, collected in 1903 on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, that was said to be an amulet. ^[6]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 128), the king of Spain sent each Pueblo officer a silver-headed, ribboned cane so that their authority would be known. Many decades later, Abraham Lincoln also gave canes to the Pueblo governors. ^[5]

Bedinger (1973) quotes Isleta's Pablo Abeita, as recorded by Adair, on the silver rosary-bead necklaces:

“In the days before the Indians made silver jewelry, when the Isletans were married in the Catholic church, they were given a rosary bead as a symbol of obedience to the marriage pact and as a sign of obedience to the Catholic faith.”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 179 ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 179), Abeita went on to say that the beads were later made of silver or coral with silver crosses between them. They were exchanged between husband and wife, and by his time almost everyone wore them, married or not. ^[5]

According to Frank (1990, p. 62, Fig. 62), manta pins were essential for holding women's dresses together at the shoulders and were also worn as dress ornaments. ^[6]

Frank (1990, Fig. 66, p. 65) on the mosaic earring as a Pueblo favorite:

“Earrings of this type seem to have been the favorites of both the Hopi and Zuni Pueblos.”
— Frank (1990), p. 65 ^[6]

Frank (1990, p. 65, Fig. 66) described a pair of large Hopi earrings of turquoise with an abalone center fixed to a wooden backing with piñon gum mixed with the same ashes that color piki bread; the museum's catalogue said they were worn by maidens for festal occasions. ^[6]

According to Frank (1990, p. 65, Fig. 67), jacklas were loops of turquoise beads once worn as earrings and later hung from chunk turquoise necklaces as pendants, and as of the late 1970s they were still worn that way; on newer loops the old coral end beads had been replaced by glass or plastic. ^[6]

A 1907 photograph reproduced in Frank (1990) records first phase silver worn at a Hopi dance:

“This picture, taken in 1907 at the Hopi village of Hano, Arizona, during the annual summer Butterfly Dance, shows the center dancer wearing a first phase concha belt of the round variety.”
— Frank (1990), p. 21 ^[6]

Frank (1990, Fig. 177, p. 144) reported as of the late 1970s:

“Bandolier bags are still worn at some Pueblo Indian dances, particularly by the ceremonial leaders who take corn pollen out of them to bless the dancers.”
— Frank (1990), p. 144 ^[6]

According to Frank (1990, p. 177, Fig. 220), a necklace collected at Taos Pueblo had been assembled as a ceremonial dance piece: silver crosses and beads strung on buckskin with a grizzly bear claw pendant traded in from the Plains, the claw drilled with several holes that showed it had been worn for different purposes at different times. ^[6]

Bedinger (1973) wrote of Zuni mosaic:

“Most designs are representational, and many have religious associations.”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 195 ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 195), the Knife-Wing figure seen in Zuni mosaic was actually a masked human figure, and it and the rainbow figure were standard mosaic motifs in the 1950s, joined later by katsina masks, sun shields and ritual dancers. ^[5]

According to Bedinger (1973, p. 114), conducting healing ceremonies, or sings, was a frequent activity of Navajo (Diné) silverworkers. The singers she named included Grey Moustache of Sunrise Springs, Long Moustache of Klagetoh, Sam Tilden, Atsidi Sani, and later John Burnsides and Jack Tsayutcissi. ^[5]

According to Frank (1990, p. 107, Fig. 126), a Navajo medicine pouch acquired by the Heard Museum, probably before 1930, held three silver bars made from straight bar ingots cast in tufa and smoothed with a file, ending in hands and stamped with designs resembling lightning, arrows and snakes. He noted that such pieces were also made from meteorite fragments and stone. ^[6]

According to Bahti (2007, p. 11), the Zuni smith who learned from Atsidi Chon in turn agreed in 1898 to teach his own Hopi host, Sikyatala, while visiting Hopi to trade on his skills; Bahti noted that the two men, though from different Pueblo groups, were both members of the Mustard Clan. ^[7]

According to Bahti (2007, p. 11), John Lorenzo Hubbell and C. N. Cotton ran the Ganado Trading Post from about 1884, paying Navajo silversmiths to teach other Navajos and bringing in Mexican smiths as teachers too, with an eye on the tourist market. ^[7]

Bahti (2007) on the lightweight tourist silver of the Fred Harvey era:

“This style, dubbed "Fred Harvey jewelry" after the major buyer, could more accurately be called "railroad jewelry," reflecting the origin of the market for these items.”
— Bahti (2007), p. 12 ^[7]

According to Bahti (2007, p. 12), manufactured copies of Indian jewelry began to appear in the 1920s, first in the Southwest and then from Denver to New York, which eventually led to the founding of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. ^[7]

According to Bahti (2007, p. 12), by the 1940s traders and the Museum of Northern Arizona had helped steer each nation toward a distinct style: Zuni smiths toward lapidary work in shell and stone, Navajo smiths toward plain silver and silver with a few turquoise settings, and Hopi smiths toward overlay using Hopi textile and pottery designs. ^[7]

Bahti (2007) on the idea of "traditional" jewelry:

“Forget that squash-blossom necklaces were hardly traditional when they first appeared in the 1870s.”
— Bahti (2007), p. 12 ^[7]

According to Bahti (2007, p. 152), the Hopi Guild was established after World War II to provide silversmithing instruction under the GI Bill, and it trained generations of Hopi silversmiths until about 1992, by which time most were learning from practicing silversmiths; Elmer Satala Jr. was a member of its last graduating class. ^[7]

According to Bahti (2007, p. 142), Ray and Mary Rosetta of Santo Domingo Pueblo invented the handmade silver tube necklace about 1958–59; small silver tube beads had been used in coral and turquoise necklaces before, but no one had made a necklace entirely of handmade tube beads. Their son Nick told Bahti the name came from dealer Ed Young's wife, who drew a necklace through her fingers and exclaimed that it was like liquid silver. ^[7]

Bahti (2007, p. 143) records Nick Rosetta's account of the process: sheet silver cut into strips, pre-shaped in a groove pounded into a cottonwood stump, then pulled through a draw plate into tubes, using wax in the final draws — five pulls on 28-gauge but sixteen on heavier 20-gauge. ^[7]

As Zuni jeweler Loren Panteah told Bahti (2007):

“We started thinking of protecting our own designs.”
— Bahti (2007), p. 133 ^[7]

According to Bahti (2007, p. 133), after Loren Panteah and Octavius Seotewa approached the Zuni tribal council, the tribe formed a Zuni trademark committee and worked toward a tribally owned certification mark, with each Zuni user certified by the tribe; the tribe then passed the Certification for Zuni Made Arts and Crafts Ordinance, and in January 2006 appointed Panteah, Carlton Jamon and Tony Eriacho as commissioners to implement it. ^[7]

According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 24), Moctezuma presented Cortés with gifts of turquoise, including turquoise mosaic pieces, that had little value to the Spaniards, who were far more interested in silver and gold; several such pieces are now in the British Museum. ^[3]

According to Kunz (1890, p. 62), the Christy Collection in London held two human skulls inlaid with turquoise, and a finger-ring cut from the whorl of a shell inlaid with turquoise and red spondylus shell. ^[4]

According to Kunz (1890, p. 62), Torquemada recorded that the Mexicans placed a fragment of the green stone in the mouths of distinguished chiefs when they were buried. ^[4]

Laufer (1913) recorded:

“In the religious service turquoises are employed, strung in the shape of beads, for rosaries, 108 beads being the usual number.”
— Laufer (1913), p. 13 ^[8]

On turquoise-set images, Laufer (1913) noted a way collectors told them apart:

“Buddhist images, thus treated, may readily be recognized as Lamaist deities, as the Chinese never adopt this method.”
— Laufer (1913), p. 13 ^[8]

According to Laufer (1913, p. 13), the gold sarcophagus of the first Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo near Shigatse was covered with ornamental work and studded with turquoises and precious stones. ^[8]

According to Laufer (1913, p. 13), the Tibetan annals described a shrine at bSam-yas, the oldest Tibetan temple (mid-eighth century), with beams said to be of turquoise; he suggested that, if not a figure of speech, the stones were inlaid as a mosaic. ^[8]

According to Laufer (1913, p. 62), under the Qianlong emperor turquoise was first sanctioned for the imperial cult: the emperor wore a turquoise rosary when officiating at the Temple of the Moon, and turquoise was set in court girdles, helmets and sword-sheaths. ^[8]

According to Branson (1975, p. 57), a turquoise-encrusted box of silver and gilt was used to carry prayers written on cloth or rice paper, and was usually worn around the neck as a pendant. ^[2]

Writing in 1975, Branson recorded of the Tibetans:

“The Tibetans attach special powers to it and look upon it as a thing in itself and not as a stone.”
— Branson (1975), p. 56 ^[2]

According to Lowry (2010, p. 67), the Royal Tombs of Sipán in Peru were found intact, with items of gold, silver and turquoise including metal masks, a royal scepter and ear spools inlaid with turquoise. ^[1]

According to Lowry (2010, p. 49), Sumerian tombs at Ur dating to about 2500 BC yielded luxury items inlaid with gold, silver, lapis lazuli, turquoise and carnelian. ^[1]

According to Laufer (1913, p. 39), turquoise beads found with carnelian and lapis lazuli in the kurgans of Anau, placed with a child's burial, had been claimed as Persian, but he judged their date unsettled and their Persian origin unproved. ^[8]

According to Laufer (1913, p. 54), precious stones such as lapis lazuli, carnelian and agate were known from Chinese graves, but as far as he and Chinese experts knew, turquoise had not yet been found in any Chinese grave. ^[8]