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111-656: Oasisamerica is a cultural region of Indigenous peoples in North America . Their precontact cultures were predominantly agrarian, in contrast with neighboring tribes to the south in Aridoamerica . The region spans parts of Northwestern Mexico and Southwestern United States and can include most of Arizona and New Mexico ; southern parts of Utah and Colorado ; and northern parts of Sonora and Chihuahua . During some historical periods, it might have included parts of California and Texas as well. The term

222-526: A Uto-Aztecan language. This community had an economy based on gathering and incipient agriculture on mountain slopes. They were a semi-nomadic people, probably because they had to migrate to compensate for the scarcity of food resources in the foothills of the mountains they called home. The Mogollon was a cultural area of Mesoamerica that extended from the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental , northward to Arizona and New Mexico in

333-402: A cryptocrystalline mineral, turquoise almost never forms single crystals , and all of its properties are highly variable. X-ray diffraction testing shows its crystal system to be triclinic . With lower hardness comes greater porosity . The lustre of turquoise is typically waxy to subvitreous, and its transparency is usually opaque, but may be semitranslucent in thin sections. Colour

444-415: A cultural area , cultural region , cultural sphere , or culture area refers to a geography with one relatively homogeneous human activity or complex of activities ( culture ). Such activities are often associated with an ethnolinguistic group and with the territory it inhabits. Specific cultures often do not limit their geographic coverage to the borders of a nation state , or to smaller subdivisions of

555-515: A human skull as their base), knives , and shields . Natural resins , bitumen and wax were used to bond the turquoise to the objects' base material; this was usually wood , but bone and shell were also used. Like the Aztecs, the Pueblo , Navajo and Apache tribes cherished turquoise for its amuletic use; the latter tribe believe the stone to afford the archer dead aim. In Navajo culture it

666-474: A scarab motif, accompanied by carnelian , lapis lazuli , and in later pieces, coloured glass . Turquoise, associated with the goddess Hathor , was so liked by the Ancient Egyptians that it became (arguably ) the first gemstone to be imitated, the fair structure created by an artificial glazed ceramic product known as faience . The French conducted archaeological excavations of Egypt from

777-482: A binder used, meaning it is best described as a simulant rather than a synthetic). Gilson turquoise is made in both a uniform colour and with black "spiderweb matrix" veining not unlike the natural Nevada material. The most common imitation of turquoise encountered today is dyed howlite and magnesite , both white in their natural states, and the former also having natural (and convincing) black veining similar to that of turquoise. Dyed chalcedony , jasper , and marble

888-479: A bringer of good fortune or a talisman. The oldest evidence for this claim was found in Ancient Egypt , where grave furnishings with turquoise inlay were discovered, dating from approximately 3000 BCE. In the ancient Persian Empire , the sky-blue gemstones were earlier worn round the neck or wrist as protection against unnatural death. If they changed colour, the wearer was thought to have reason to fear

999-501: A circular arrangement. The Pueblo period begins with the development of ceramics . The most prominent feature of these ceramics is the predominance of pieces of a white or red color with black designs. During the Pueblo I phase (AD 750–900), the Ancestral Pueblo developed their first irrigation systems, and their former subterranean habitations were slowly replaced by houses constructed of masonry . Pueblo II (900–1150)

1110-616: A continental scale are also referred to as "worlds", "spheres", or "civilizations", such as the Islamic world . The term cultural bloc is used by anthropologists to describe culturally and linguistically similar groups (or nations) of Aboriginal peoples of Australia . It may have been coined first by Ronald Berndt in 1959 to describe the Western Desert cultural bloc , a group of peoples in central Australia whose languages comprise around 40 dialects. Other groups described as

1221-679: A cultural bloc include the Noongar people of south-western Australia; the Bundjalung people of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland ; the Kuninjku / Bininj Kunwok bloc and the Yolngu cultural bloc in Arnhem Land , Northern Territory . A music area is a cultural area defined according to musical activity. It may or may not conflict with the cultural areas assigned to

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1332-966: A decline in the Roman Catholic Church 's influence which allowed the use of turquoise in secular jewellery. It was apparently unknown in India until the Mughal period, and unknown in Japan until the 18th century. A common belief shared by many of these civilizations held that turquoise possessed certain prophylactic qualities; it was thought to change colour with the wearer's health and protect him or her from untoward forces. The Aztecs viewed turquoise as an embodiment of fire and gave it properties such as heat and smokiness. They inlaid turquoise, together with gold , quartz , malachite , jet , jade , coral , and shells , into provocative (and presumably ceremonial ) mosaic objects such as masks (some with

1443-441: A given region. The world may be divided into three large music areas, each containing a "cultivated" or classical musics "that are obviously its most complex musical forms", with, nearby, folk styles which interact with the cultivated, and, on the perimeter, primitive styles. [REDACTED] Media related to Cultural regions at Wikimedia Commons Turquoise Like most other opaque gems, turquoise has been devalued by

1554-402: A heated probe may give rise to the pungent smell so indicative of plastic. Differences in specific gravity , refractive index , light absorption (as evident in a material's absorption spectrum ), and other physical and optical properties are also considered as means of separation. Turquoise is treated to enhance both its colour and durability (increased hardness and decreased porosity ). As

1665-419: A historical perspective, are Serabit el-Khadim and Wadi Maghareh , believed to be among the oldest of known mines. The former mine is situated about 4 kilometres from an ancient temple dedicated to the deity Hathor . The turquoise is found in sandstone that is, or was originally, overlain by basalt . Copper and iron workings are present in the area. Large-scale turquoise mining is not profitable today, but

1776-432: A minor source of turquoise for 3,000 years or more. Gem-quality material, in the form of compact nodules, is found in the fractured, silicified limestone of Yunxian and Zhushan , Hubei province. Additionally, Marco Polo reported turquoise found in present-day Sichuan . Most Chinese material is exported, but a few carvings worked in a manner similar to jade exist. In Tibet , gem-quality deposits purportedly exist in

1887-637: A part of Oasisamerica took place between the 5th and 14th centuries. Scholars contend that the Fremont culture was derived from the Ancestral Pueblo culture. Theoretically, the Fremont communities would have emigrated toward the north, bringing with them the customs, social organization structures, and technology of the Ancestral Pueblo. This hypothesis neatly explains the presence of ceramics in Utah that are very similar to those found in Mesa Verde. The decay of

1998-684: A peripheral culture whose cultural development was probably influenced by their Hohokam neighbors to the east. From them they would have learned the Mesoamerican ballgame , cremation techniques, and techniques for the production of ceramics. The Patayan culture began to disappear in the 14th century. When the Spanish arrived in the region, the Colorado River Valley was only occupied by the river-dwelling Yuman peoples . Cultural region In anthropology and geography ,

2109-480: A state. A culture area is a concept in cultural anthropology in which a geographic region and time sequence ( age area ) is characterized by shared elements of environment and culture. A precursor to the concept of culture areas originated with museum curators and ethnologists during the late 1800s as means of arranging exhibits, combined with the work of taxonomy . The American anthropologists Clark Wissler and Alfred Kroeber further developed this version of

2220-428: A typical turquoise deposit begins with hydrothermal deposition of copper sulfides . This takes place when hydrothermal fluids leach copper from a host rock, which is typically an intrusion of calc-alkaline rock with a moderate to high silica content that is relatively oxidized . The copper is redeposited in more concentrated form as a copper porphyry , in which veins of copper sulfide fill joints and fractures in

2331-458: A uniform dark blue) and texture (usually granular or sugary). Glass and plastic will have a much greater translucency, with bubbles or flow lines often visible just below the surface. Staining between grain boundaries may be visible in dyed imitations. Some destructive tests may be necessary; for example, the application of diluted hydrochloric acid will cause the carbonates odontolite and magnesite to effervesce and howlite to turn green, while

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2442-441: A wetting effect, thereby enhancing the colour and lustre. This treatment is more or less acceptable by tradition, especially because treated turquoise is usually of a higher grade to begin with. Oiled and waxed stones are prone to "sweating" under even gentle heat or if exposed to too much sun, and they may develop a white surface film or bloom over time. (With some skill, oil and wax treatments can be restored.) Since finer turquoise

2553-743: Is a significant part of a society's culture, but it can also divide subgroups of the same ethnolinguistic group along more subtle criteria, such as the Brünig-Napf-Reuss line in German-speaking Switzerland, the Weißwurstäquator in Germany, or the Grote rivieren boundary between Dutch and Flemish culture. In the history of Europe , the major cultural boundaries are traditionally found: Macro-cultures on

2664-466: Is as variable as the mineral's other properties, ranging from white to a powder blue to a sky blue and from a blue-green to a yellowish green. The blue is attributed to idiochromatic copper while the green may be the result of iron impurities (replacing copper.) The refractive index of turquoise varies from 1.61 to 1.65 on the three crystal axes, with birefringence 0.040, biaxial positive, as measured from rare single crystals. Crushed turquoise

2775-478: Is defined by the construction of great works of architecture, including multi-family, multi-story dwellings. The following phase of Pueblo III (1150–1350) witnessed the greatest expansion of Ancestral Pueblo agriculture as well as the construction of large regional communication networks that would persist until the Pueblo IV Era . In Pueblo IV (1350–1600), much of the earlier society disintegrated along with

2886-435: Is less common, and much less convincing. Other natural materials occasionally confused with or used in lieu of turquoise include: variscite and faustite ; chrysocolla (especially when impregnating quartz ); lazulite ; smithsonite ; hemimorphite ; wardite ; and a fossil bone or tooth called odontolite or "bone turquoise", coloured blue naturally by the mineral vivianite . While rarely encountered today, odontolite

2997-506: Is now known as the " cultural turn ." The definition of culture areas is enjoying a resurgence of practical and theoretical interest as social scientists conduct more research on processes of cultural globalization. Allen Noble gave a summary of the concept development of cultural regions using terms such as: Cultural "spheres of influence" may also overlap or form concentric structures of macrocultures encompassing smaller local cultures. Different boundaries may also be drawn depending on

3108-407: Is of a low grade (called "chalk turquoise"); high iron levels mean greens and yellows predominate, and a typically friable consistency in the turquoise's untreated state precludes use in jewelry . Arizona is currently the most important producer of turquoise by value. Several mines exist in the state, two of them famous for their unique colour and quality and considered the best in the industry:

3219-544: Is often found as thin seams, it may be glued to a base of stronger foreign material for reinforcement. These stones are termed "backed", and it is standard practice that all thinly cut turquoise in the Southwestern United States is backed. Native indigenous peoples of this region, because of their considerable use and wearing of turquoise, have found that backing increases the durability of thinly cut slabs and cabochons of turquoise. They observe that if

3330-477: Is primarily associated with Carl O. Sauer and his colleagues. Sauer viewed culture as "an agent within a natural area that was a medium to be cultivated to produce the cultural landscape." Sauer's concept was later criticized as deterministic , and geographer Yi-Fu Tuan and others proposed versions that enabled scholars to account for phenomenological experience as well. This revision became known as humanistic geography. The period within which humanistic geography

3441-468: Is restricted to a mine-riddled region in Nishapur , the 2,012 m (6,601 ft) mountain peak of Ali-mersai near Mashhad , the capital of Khorasan Province , Iran . Weathered and broken trachyte is host to the turquoise, which is found both in situ between layers of limonite and sandstone and amongst the scree at the mountain's base. These workings are the oldest known, together with those of

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3552-428: Is so often the case with any precious stones, full disclosure about treatment is frequently not given. Gemologists can detect these treatments using a variety of testing methods, some of which are destructive, such as the use of a heated probe applied to an inconspicuous spot, which will reveal oil, wax or plastic treatment. Historically, light waxing and oiling were the first treatments used in ancient times, providing

3663-436: Is soluble in hot hydrochloric acid . Its streak is white to greenish to blue, and its fracture is smooth to conchoidal . Despite its low hardness relative to other gems, turquoise takes a good polish. Turquoise may also be peppered with flecks of pyrite or interspersed with dark, spidery limonite veining. Turquoise is nearly always cryptocrystalline and massive and assumes no definite external shape. Crystals, even at

3774-611: Is termed "bonded" or "stabilized" turquoise. This process consists of pressure impregnation of otherwise unsaleable chalky American material by epoxy and plastics (such as polystyrene ) and water glass (sodium silicate) to produce a wetting effect and improve durability. Plastic and water glass treatments are far more permanent and stable than waxing and oiling, and can be applied to material too chemically or physically unstable for oil or wax to provide sufficient improvement. Conversely, stabilization and bonding are rejected by some as too radical an alteration. The epoxy binding technique

3885-458: Is the cause of the beautiful bright green to yellow-green shades. Some of the green to green-yellow shades may actually be variscite or faustite , which are secondary phosphate minerals similar in appearance to turquoise. A significant portion of the Nevada material is also noted for its often attractive brown or black limonite veining, producing what is called "spiderweb matrix". While a number of

3996-482: Is the country's other major producer, with more than 120 mines which have yielded significant quantities of turquoise. Unlike elsewhere in the US, most Nevada mines have been worked primarily for their gem turquoise and very little has been recovered as a byproduct of other mining operations. Nevada turquoise is found as nuggets , fracture fillings and in breccias as the cement filling interstices between fragments. Because of

4107-540: Is thought to be the location of the oldest mines; prior to the 1920s, the state was the country's largest producer; it is more or less exhausted today. Only one mine in California, located at Apache Canyon, operates at a commercial capacity today. The turquoise occurs as vein or seam fillings, and as compact nuggets; these are mostly small in size. While quite fine material is sometimes found, rivalling Iranian material in both colour and durability, most American turquoise

4218-440: Is treated only for porosity, the treatment is undetectable. The use of Prussian blue and other dyes (often in conjunction with bonding treatments) to "enhance” its appearance, make uniform or completely change the colour, is regarded as fraudulent by some purists, especially since some dyes may fade or rub off on the wearer. Dyes have also been used to darken the veins of turquoise. Material treated with plastic or water glass

4329-772: Is typically the most translucent, and under magnification, its surface structure is revealed to be peppered with dark blue discs not seen in material from other localities. The Southwest United States is a significant source of turquoise; Arizona , California ( San Bernardino , Imperial , Inyo counties), Colorado ( Conejos , El Paso , Lake , Saguache counties), New Mexico ( Eddy , Grant , Otero , Santa Fe counties) and Nevada ( Clark , Elko , Esmeralda County , Eureka , Lander , Mineral County and Nye counties) are (or were) especially rich. The deposits of California and New Mexico were mined by pre-Columbian Native Americans using stone tools, some local and some from as far away as central Mexico . Cerrillos , New Mexico

4440-474: Is used for "a spiritual protection and blessing." Among these peoples turquoise was used in mosaic inlay, in sculptural works, and was fashioned into toroidal beads and freeform pendants. The Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi) of the Chaco Canyon and surrounding region are believed to have prospered greatly from their production and trading of turquoise objects. The distinctive silver jewellery produced by

4551-631: The Aztecs (and possibly other Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans ), Persia , Mesopotamia , the Indus Valley , and to some extent in ancient China since at least the Shang dynasty . Despite being one of the oldest gems, probably first introduced to Europe (through Turkey ) with other Silk Road novelties, turquoise did not become important as an ornamental stone in the West until the 14th century, following

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4662-454: The Aztecs knew it as chalchihuitl . In professional mineralogy, until the mid-19th century, the scientific names kalaite or azure spar were also used, which simultaneously provided a version of the mineral origin of turquoise. However, these terms did not become widespread and gradually fell out of use. The finest of turquoise reaches a maximum Mohs hardness of just under 6, or slightly more than window glass . Characteristically

4773-711: The Cerrillos Hills in New Mexico, are typical supergene deposits formed from copper porphyries. The deposits in Cochise County, Arizona , are found in Cambrian quartzites and geologically young granites and go down at least as deep as 54 meters (177 ft). Turquoise was among the first gems to be mined, and many historic sites have been depleted, though some are still worked to this day. These are all small-scale operations, often seasonal owing to

4884-610: The Desert tradition , later would become more truly agricultural and form Oasisamerica. Maize has been grown in this region since 3500 BC and possibly 4000 BC, based on maize remnants (alongside squash) found in Bat Cave, New Mexico. The oldest evidence of maize agriculture in Mesoamerica predates this, suggesting that maize agriculture entered Oasisamerica from the south. It is likely that all precontact agricultural crops, except

4995-566: The Earth's surface ) percolates through the copper porphyry. Dissolved oxygen in the water oxidizes the copper sulfides to soluble sulfates, and the acidic, copper-laden solution then reacts with aluminum and potassium minerals in the host rock to precipitate turquoise. This typically fills veins in volcanic rock or phosphate-rich sediments. Deposition usually takes place at a relatively low temperature, 90–195 °C (194–383 °F), and seems to occur more readily in arid environments. Turquoise in

5106-521: The First Dynasty and possibly earlier; however, probably the most well-known pieces incorporating the gem are those recovered from Tutankhamun 's tomb, most notably the Pharaoh 's iconic burial mask which was liberally inlaid with the stone. It also adorned rings and great sweeping necklaces called pectorals . Set in gold, the gem was fashioned into beads, used as inlay, and often carved in

5217-544: The Salt and Gila rivers that could reach several meters in depth and 10 km in length. Thanks to these canals, the Hohokam harvested as many as two crops of corn annually. The principal settlements of the Hohokam culture were Snaketown , Casa Grande , Red Mountain, and Pueblo de los Muertos, all of which are to be found in modern-day Arizona . The Hohokam lived in small communities of several hundred people. Their lifestyle

5328-623: The Sinagua . Ancestral Pueblo cultures flourished in the region currently known as the Four Corners . The territory was covered by juniper forests which the ancient peoples learned to exploit for their own needs, since foraging among the other vegetation only sufficed for half of the year, only to fail from November to April. The Ancestral Pueblo society is one of the most complex to be found in Oasisamerica, and they are assumed to be

5439-558: The Sinai Peninsula is found in lower Carboniferous sandstones overlain by basalt flows and upper Carboniferous limestone . The overlying beds were presumably the source of the copper, which precipitated as turquoise in nodules, horizontal seams, or vertical joints in the sandstone beds. The classical Iranian deposits are found in sandstones and limestones of Tertiary age were intruded by apatite -rich porphyritic trachytes and mafic rock. Supergene alteration fractured

5550-688: The Sinai Peninsula . Iran also has turquoise mines in Semnan and Kerman provinces. Since at least the First Dynasty (3000  BCE ) in ancient Egypt , and possibly before then, turquoise was used by the Egyptians and was mined by them in the Sinai Peninsula . This region was known as the Country of Turquoise by the native Monitu . There are six mines in the peninsula, all on its southwest coast, covering an area of some 650 km (250 sq mi). The two most important of these mines, from

5661-619: The kachina . The Hohokam occupied the desert-like lands of Arizona and Sonora . The Hohokam territory is bounded by two large rivers, the Salt River (Arizona) and Gila Rivers , that outline the heart of the Sonora Desert . The surrounding ecosystem presented many challenges to agriculture and human life because of its high temperatures and scant rainfall. Due to these factors, the Hohokam were forced to construct irrigation systems with elaborate webs of reservoirs and canals for

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5772-420: The tepary bean ( Phaseolus acutifolius ) were imported from Mesoamerica. There are many indications of a close relationship between the two great cultural regions of North America. For one, the turquoise used by Mesoamericans came almost exclusively from southern New Mexico and Arizona. Demand for this mineral may have played a large part in establishing trade relationships between the two cultural areas. At

5883-613: The 14th and 15th centuries. At this time, the culture's major centers grew in population, size, and power. Paquime , in Chihuahua , was perhaps the largest of those. It dominated a mountainous region that contains many archaeological sites known as casas alcantilado , outposts constructed in hard-to-reach caves on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre. Paquimé traded with the heart of Mesoamerica, to which it provided precious minerals like turquoise and cinnabar . It also controlled

5994-618: The 1980s to improve the stability of medium to high-grade turquoise. The process can be applied in several ways: either through deep penetration on rough turquoise to decrease porosity, by shallow treatment of finished turquoise to enhance color, or both. The treatment can enhance color and improve the turquoise's ability to take a polish. Such treated turquoise can be distinguished in some cases from natural turquoise, without destruction, by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy , which can detect its elevated potassium levels. In some instances, such as with already high-quality, low-porosity turquoise that

6105-580: The American Southwest. The pre-Columbian Aztec and Maya also considered it to be a valuable and culturally important stone. The Egyptians were the first to produce an artificial imitation of turquoise, in the glazed earthenware product faience . Later glass and enamel were also used, and in modern times more sophisticated porcelain , plastics , and various assembled, pressed, bonded, and sintered products (composed of various copper and aluminium compounds) have been developed: examples of

6216-677: The Ancestral Pueblo region, it was populated by the Pueblo Indians, a group without a unified ethnicity. The Zuni had no apparent relatives; the Hopi spoke an Uto-Aztecan language; the Tewas and Tiwas were Tanoanos; the Zia, Acoma, Cochiti, and Kewa were Keresan ; and the Navajo , who entered the southwest relatively recently, were Athabaskans . The religion of the Pueblo Indians was based upon

6327-617: The Fremont culture began as early as the second half of the 10th century and was completed in the 14th century. They migrated to northwestern Utah. Upon the Spaniards' arrival, the region was occupied by the Shoshones , an Uto-Aztecan group. The Patayan area occupies the western part of Oasisamerica. It comprises the modern-day states of California and Arizona in the U.S. , and Baja California and Sonora in Mexico. The Patayans were

6438-549: The Mogollon area multiplied much more rapidly than it had in the preceding centuries. During this period, the Mogollon likely benefited from trade relations with Mesoamerica , a fact that facilitated the development of agriculture and the stratification of society. It is also possible that Ancestral Pueblo influence could have grown at this time, because the Mogollon began to construct buildings of masonry, just like their northern neighbors. The Mogollon culture reached its height in

6549-496: The Mogollon culture. The scholars Alfredo López Austin and Leonardo López Luján , for their historical analysis of the region, borrowed a chronology proposed earlier by Paul Martin, who himself divided Mogollon history into two general periods; the "Early" period runs from 500 BC until AD 1000, and the "Late" period begins in the 11th and goes to the 16th century. The first period featured a more or less slow cultural development. Technological changes were produced very gradually, and

6660-563: The Native American style, or as tumbled or roughly hewn beads in chunky necklaces. Lesser material may be carved into fetishes , such as those crafted by the Zuni . While strong sky blues remain superior in value, mottled green and yellowish material is popular with artisans . In many cultures of the Old and New Worlds, this gemstone has been esteemed for thousands of years as a holy stone,

6771-601: The Navajo and other Southwestern Native American tribes today is a rather modern development, thought to date from around 1880 as a result of European influences. In Persia, turquoise was the de facto national stone for millennia, extensively used to decorate objects (from turbans to bridles ), mosques , and other important buildings both inside and out, such as the Medresseh-i Shah Husein Mosque of Isfahan . The Persian style and use of turquoise

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6882-612: The Nevada deposits were first worked by Native Americans, the total Nevada turquoise production since the 1870s has been estimated at more than 600 short tons (540 t), including nearly 400 short tons (360 t) from the Carico Lake mine. In spite of increased costs, small scale mining operations continue at a number of turquoise properties in Nevada, including the Godber, Orvil Jack and Carico Lake mines in Lander County,

6993-656: The Pilot Mountain Mine in Mineral County , and several properties in the Royston and Candelaria areas of Esmerelda County. In 1912, the first deposit of distinct, single-crystal turquoise was discovered at Lynch Station in Campbell County , Virginia . The crystals, forming a druse over the mother rock, are very small; 1 mm (0.04 in) is considered large. Until the 1980s Virginia

7104-578: The Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe ceased turquoise mining in August 2012. The mine chose to send all ore to the crusher and to concentrate on copper production due to the rising price of copper on the world market. The price of natural untreated Sleeping Beauty turquoise has risen dramatically since the mine's closing. The Kingman Mine as of 2015 still operates alongside a copper mine outside of

7215-513: The ancestors of the modern Pueblo people (including the Zuñi and Hopi ). (The term "Anasazi" is also used to describe these cultures. It is a Navajo term meaning "enemy ancestors." The Ancestral Pueblo is considered to be the most intensely studied precontact culture in the United States. Archaeological investigation has established a sequence of cultural development that began before

7326-689: The apex of Paquimé. By the 15th century, a large part of the region had become abandoned by its former inhabitants. Possible descendants of the Mogollon include the Tarahumara ( Rarámuri ) based in Chihuahua, the Hopi in Arizona, and the Zuni in New Mexico. The Fremont area covered a large part of modern-day Utah . It was situated to the north of the Ancestral Pueblo cultural area. Its cultural development as

7437-404: The approach of doom. Meanwhile, it has been discovered that the turquoise certainly can change colour, but that this is not necessarily a sign of impending danger. The change can be caused by the light, or by a chemical reaction brought about by cosmetics, dust or the acidity of the skin. The goddess Hathor was associated with turquoise, as she was the patroness of Serabit el-Khadim , where it

7548-583: The arid plains of the Sonora , Chihuahua , and Arizona Deserts. At its height, Oasisamerica covered part of the present-day Mexican states of Chihuahua , Sonora and Baja California , as well as the U.S. states of Arizona , Utah , New Mexico , Colorado , Nevada , and California . Despite being a dry land, Oasisamerica contains several bodies of water like rivers: Yaqui , Rio Grande , Colorado , Conchos and Gila Rivers . The presence of these rivers (and even some lakes that have since been swallowed by

7659-721: The buyer on sale of the material. Turquoise prehistoric artifacts (beads) are known since the fifth millennium BCE from sites in the Eastern Rhodopes in Bulgaria – the source for the raw material is possibly related to the nearby Spahievo lead–zinc ore field. In Spain, turquoise has been found as a minor mineral in the variscite deposits exploited during prehistoric times in Palazuelos de las Cuevas (Zamora) and in Can Tintorer, Gavá (Barcelona). China has been

7770-457: The city. Other mines include the Blue Bird mine, Castle Dome, and Ithaca Peak, but they are mostly inactive due to the high cost of operations and federal regulations. The Phelps Dodge Lavender Pit mine at Bisbee ceased operations in 1974 and never had a turquoise contractor. All Bisbee turquoise was "lunch pail" mined. It came out of the copper ore mine in miners' lunch pails. Morenci and Turquoise Peak are either inactive or depleted. Nevada

7881-403: The communication networks. The current Pueblo V Era began with Spanish contact and the people settling at or near their current locations in the Rio Grande Valley . The reasons underpinning the decline of the Ancestral Pueblo remain somewhat of a mystery. The phenomenon is thought to be associated with a prolonged drought that befell the region from 1276 to 1299. When the Europeans arrived at

7992-478: The concept on the premise that cultural areas represent longstanding cultural divisions. This iteration of the concept is sometimes criticized as arbitrary, but the organization of human communities into cultural areas remains a common practice throughout the social sciences . Cultural geography also utilizes the concept of culture areas. Cultural geography originated within the Berkeley School, and

8103-485: The construction of the canal works. In the Colonial period, ties were strengthened with Mesoamerica . Proof of this can be found in the recovery of copper hawk bells, pyrite mirrors, and the construction of ball courts. The relations with Mesoamerica and the presence of such traded goods indicate that by the Colonial period the Hohokam had already become organized into chiefdoms. Relations with Mesoamerica would diminish in

8214-453: The deposits are sporadically quarried by Bedouin peoples using homemade gunpowder . In the rainy winter months, miners face a risk from flash flooding ; even in the dry season, death from the collapse of the haphazardly exploited sandstone mine walls may occur. The colour of Sinai material is typically greener than that of Iranian material but is thought to be stable and fairly durable. Often referred to as "Egyptian turquoise", Sinai material

8325-536: The desert), combined with a climate that was much milder than eastern Aridoamerica, allowed the development of agricultural techniques that were imported from Mesoamerica. The story of the origins of the cultural superarea of Mesoamerica takes place some 2,000 years after the cultural separation of Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica . Some of the Aridoamerican communities farmed as a complement to their hunter-gatherer economy. Those communities, including members of

8436-400: The eighth and twelfth centuries. It was characterized by white pieces decorated with stylized representations of daily life in the community that created them. This was a very exceptional approach in a cultural area whose pottery was otherwise dominated by geometric patterns. As another contrast with the Hohokam and Ancestral Pueblo, there is no widely accepted chronology for the development of

8547-708: The first century BC and extended to AD 1540 when the Pueblo Indians were subjugated by the Spanish Crown . This long period encompasses the Basketmaker I , II , and III phases followed by the Pueblo I , II , III , and IV phases. In the Basketmaker II phase, the Ancestral Pueblo took up residence in caves and rocky shelters, and in Basketmaker III Era (AD 500–750) they constructed the first subterranean cities with up to four abodes in

8658-476: The following period, and the Hohokam turned to construct multi-story buildings like Casa Grande. By the time the Europeans arrived in the Arizona and Sonora Deserts, a region which they named Pimería Alta , the urban centers of the Hohokam had already become abandoned presumably due to the health and ecological disasters that befell the indigenous social system. The Tohono O'odham live in this region and speak

8769-517: The form of social relationships and organizational patterns remained almost static for 1500 years. During the Early period, the Mogollons lived in rocky dwellings from which they defended themselves from the incursions of their hunter neighbors. Much like the Ancestral Pueblo peoples, the Mogollon also lived in semisubterranean abodes that often featured a kiva . In the 11th century, the population in

8880-453: The geology of the Nevada deposits, a majority of the material produced is hard and dense, being of sufficient quality that no treatment or enhancement is required. While nearly every county in the state has yielded some turquoise, the chief producers are in Lander and Esmeralda counties . Most of the turquoise deposits in Nevada occur along a wide belt of tectonic activity that coincides with

8991-512: The introduction of treatments, imitations, and synthetics into the market. The robin egg blue or sky blue color of the Persian turquoise mined near the modern city of Nishapur , Iran , has been used as a guiding reference for evaluating turquoise quality. The word turquoise dates to the 17th century and is derived from the Old French turquois meaning "Turkish" because the mineral

9102-477: The iron phosphate vivianite . Intergrowth with other secondary copper minerals such as chrysocolla is also common. Turquoise is distinguished from chrysocolla, the only common mineral with similar properties, by its greater hardness. Turquoise forms a complete solid solution series with chalcosiderite , CuFe 6 (PO 4 ) 4 (OH) 8 ·4H 2 O , in which ferric iron replaces aluminium. Turquoise deposits probably form in more than one way. However,

9213-412: The latter include "Viennese turquoise", made from precipitated aluminium phosphate coloured by copper oleate ; and "neolith", a mixture of bayerite and copper(II) phosphate . Most of these products differ markedly from natural turquoise in both physical and chemical properties, but in 1972 Pierre Gilson introduced one fairly close to a true synthetic (it does differ in chemical composition owing to

9324-424: The limited scope and remoteness of the deposits. Most are worked by hand with little or no mechanization. However, turquoise is often recovered as a byproduct of large-scale copper mining operations, especially in the United States. Deposits typically take the form of small veins in partially decomposed volcanic rock in arid climates. Iran has been an important source of turquoise for at least 2,000 years. It

9435-405: The microscopic scale, are rare. Typically the form is a vein or fracture filling, nodular, or botryoidal in habit . Stalactite forms have been reported. Turquoise may also pseudomorphously replace feldspar, apatite, other minerals, or even fossils . Odontolite is fossil bone or ivory that has historically been thought to have been altered by turquoise or similar phosphate minerals such as

9546-462: The mid-19th century through the early 20th. These excavations, including that of Tutankhamun's tomb, created great public interest in the western world, subsequently influencing jewellery, architecture , and art of the time. Turquoise, already favoured for its pastel shades since around 1810, was a staple of Egyptian Revival pieces. In contemporary Western use, turquoise is most often encountered cut en cabochon in silver rings, bracelets, often in

9657-422: The mountains of Derge and Nagari-Khorsum in the east and west of the region respectively. Other notable localities include: Afghanistan ; Australia ( Victoria and Queensland ); north India ; northern Chile ( Chuquicamata ); Cornwall ; Saxony ; Silesia ; and Turkestan . The pastel shades of turquoise have endeared it to many great cultures of antiquity: it has adorned the rulers of Ancient Egypt ,

9768-544: The north, the Mogollons usually buried their dead. The culture's graves often included ceramic art and semiprecious stones. Because the Mogollon burial sites displayed such wealth, they were often looted by grave robbers who sought to sell their spoils on the archaeological black market. Perhaps the most impressive Mogollon ceramic tradition was to be found in the valley of the Mimbres River in New Mexico. The ceramic production of this region became most developed between

9879-462: The origins and ethnic identity of the Hohokam culture. Some hold that the culture developed endogenously (without outside influence), pointing to Snaketown which had its origins in the fourth century BC. Others believe the culture to be a product of migration from Mesoamerica . In defense of this line of thought, proponents point to the fact that Hohokam ceramics appeared in 300 BC (also the time of Snaketown's founding), and that before this time, there

9990-411: The particular aspect of interest, such as religion and folklore vs dress, or architecture vs language. Another version of cultural area typology divides cultural areas into three forms: A cultural boundary (also cultural border) in ethnology is a geographical boundary between two identifiable ethnic or ethnolinguistic cultures. A language border is necessarily also a cultural border, as language

10101-591: The rock and converted some of the minerals in the rock to alunite , which freed aluminum and phosphate to combine with copper from oxidized copper sulfides to form turquoise. This process took place at a relatively shallow depth, and by 1965 the mines had "bottomed" at a depth averaging just 9 meters (30 ft) below the surface. Turquoise deposits are widespread in North America. Some deposits, such as those of Saguache and Conejos Counties in Colorado or

10212-416: The rock. Deposition takes place mostly in the potassic alteration zone, which is characterized by conversion of existing feldspar to potassium feldspar and deposition of quartz and micas at a temperature of 400–600 °C (752–1,112 °F) Turquoise is a secondary or supergene mineral, not present in the original copper porphyry. It forms when meteoric water (rain or snow melt infiltrating

10323-650: The same time, in Paquimé , a site connected to the Mogollon culture, there are ceremonial structures related to Mesoamerican religion and an important number of skeletons of Macaws that were carefully transported from the forests of southeastern Mexico . The area encompassed by Oasisamerica fostered the growth of several major cultural groups: the Ancestral Pueblo people , Hohokam , Mogollon , Pataya , and Fremont . Smaller cultures within this region include

10434-407: The silver and gold jewellery of Tibet and Mongolia , where a greener hue is said to be preferred. Most of the pieces made today, with turquoise usually roughly polished into irregular cabochons set simply in silver, are meant for inexpensive export to Western markets and are probably not accurate representations of the original style. The Ancient Egyptian use of turquoise stretches back as far as

10545-492: The similar regions of Mesoamerica and mostly nomadic Aridoamerica . The term Greater Southwest is often used to describe this region by American anthropologists, while Oasisamerica is more used by Mexican scholars. The term Oasisamerica combines " oasis " and " America ". It refers to the land dominated by the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre Occidental . To the east and west of these mountain ranges stretch

10656-484: The southwestern United States. Some scholars prefer to distinguish between two broad cultural traditions in this area: the Mogollon itself and the Paquime culture that was derived from it. Either way, the peoples who inhabited the area in question adapted well to a landscape that was marked by the presence of pine forests and steep mountains and ravines . In contrast to their Hohokam and Ancestral Pueblo neighbors to

10767-457: The state's zone of thrust faulting . It strikes at a bearing of about 15° and extends from the northern part of Elko County , southward down to the California border southwest of Tonopah . Nevada has produced a wide diversity of colours and mixes of different matrix patterns, with turquoise from Nevada coming in various shades of blue, blue-green, and green. Some of this unusually-coloured turquoise may contain significant zinc and iron , which

10878-480: The stone is not backed it will often crack. Backing of turquoise is not widely known outside of the Native American and Southwestern United States jewellery trade. Backing does not diminish the value of high quality turquoise, and indeed the process is expected for most thinly cut American commercial gemstones. A proprietary process was created by electrical engineer and turquoise dealer James E. Zachery in

10989-523: The trade of certain products from the coasts of the Gulf of California , especially its Nassarius conch shells. Paquime received heavy influence from the Mesoamerican societies, as evidenced by the presence of arenas for the Mesoamerican ballgame and the remains of animals native to Mesoamerica like the macaw . The decline of the main centers of Mogollon power began in the 13th century, even before

11100-575: The trade reconstituted turquoise is often called "block turquoise" or simply "block". Hardness and richness of colour are two of the major factors in determining the value of turquoise; while colour is a matter of individual taste, generally speaking, the most desirable is a strong sky to robin egg blue (in reference to the eggs of the American robin ). Whatever the colour, for many applications, turquoise should not be soft or chalky; even if treated, such lesser material (to which most turquoise belongs)

11211-558: The worship of plant-like deities and the fertility of the earth. They believed that supernatural beings called the kachina had come to the surface of the Earth from the sipapu (center of the Earth) at the moment of the creation of the human race. Worship in Pueblo societies was organized by secret all-male groups that met in kivas . The members of these secret societies claimed to represent

11322-564: Was first brought to Europe through the Ottoman Empire . However, according to Etymonline , the word dates to the 14th century with the form turkeis , meaning "Turkish", which was replaced with turqueise from French in the 1560s. According to the same source, the gemstone was first brought to Europe from Turkestan or another Turkic territory. Pliny the Elder referred to the mineral as callais (from Ancient Greek κάλαϊς ) and

11433-480: Was first developed in the 1950s and has been attributed to Colbaugh Processing of Arizona, a company that still operates today. Perhaps the most extreme of treatments is "reconstitution", wherein fragments of fine turquoise material, too small to be used individually, are powdered and then bonded with resin to form a solid mass. Very often the material sold as "reconstituted turquoise" is artificial , with little or no natural stone, made entirely from resins and dyes. In

11544-534: Was first proposed by German-Mexican anthropologist Paul Kirchhoff , who also coined Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica , and is used by some scholars, primarily Mexican anthropologists , for the broad cultural area defining pre-Columbian southwestern North America . It extends from modern-day Utah down to southern Chihuahua , and from the coast on the Gulf of California eastward to the Río Bravo river valley. Its name comes from its position in relationship with

11655-523: Was initially named by Iranians " pērōzah " meaning "victory", and later the Arabs called it " fayrūzah ", which is pronounced in Modern Persian as " fīrūzeh ". In Iranian architecture, the blue turquoise was used to cover the domes of palaces because its intense blue colour was also a symbol of heaven on earth. This deposit is blue naturally and turns green when heated due to dehydration. It

11766-592: Was later brought to India following the establishment of the Mughal Empire there, its influence seen in high purity gold jewellery (together with ruby and diamond ) and in such buildings as the Taj Mahal . Persian turquoise was often engraved with devotional words in Arabic script which was then inlaid with gold. Cabochons of imported turquoise, along with coral, was (and still is) used extensively in

11877-535: Was mined. Her titles included "Lady of Turquoise", "Mistress of Turquoise", and "Lady of Turquoise Country". In Western culture, turquoise is also the traditional birthstone for those born in the month of December. The turquoise is also a stone in the Jewish High Priest 's breastplate , described in Exodus chapter 28. The stone is also considered sacred to the indigenous Zuni and Pueblo peoples of

11988-456: Was no indication of an independent regional development of ceramics. Along the same line of reasoning, several other technological advances like the canal works and certain cultural phenomena like cremation seem to have originated in western Mesoamerica. The development of the Hohokam culture is divided into four periods: Pioneer (300 BC–AD 550), Colonial (550–900), Sedentary (900–1100), and Classical (1100–1450). The Pioneer period commenced with

12099-504: Was once mined in large quantities—specifically for its use as a substitute for turquoise—in southern France . These fakes are detected by gemologists using a number of tests, relying primarily on non-destructive, close examination of surface structure under magnification; a featureless, pale blue background peppered by flecks or spots of whitish material is the typical surface appearance of natural turquoise, while manufactured imitations will appear radically different in both colour (usually

12210-402: Was very similar to that of the Ancestral Pueblo in their Basketmaker III phase: semisubterranean but with spacious interiors. Several other artifacts are unique to the Hohokam, including conch necklaces (imported from the coastal regions of Greater California and Sonora ) etched with acids produced by pitaya fermentation; and axes, trowels, and other stone instruments. Archaeologists dispute

12321-550: Was widely thought to be the only source of distinct crystals; there are now at least 27 other localities. In an attempt to recoup profits and meet demand, some American turquoise is treated or enhanced to a certain degree. These treatments include innocuous waxing and more controversial procedures, such as dyeing and impregnation (see Treatments ). There are some American mines which produce materials of high enough quality that no treatment or alterations are required. Any such treatments which have been performed should be disclosed to

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