Turquoise in Indian Jewelry
An article by Lee Anderson
Turquoise has been native to jewelry in the Southwest for over
2000 years. Then, as now, the stone was deeply appreciated and revered.
No doubt, the prehistoric Indians and the ancestors of our current
Native Americans ascribed a multitude of properties to this stone.
Pima of Southern Arizona
According to the Pima, turquoise was a talisman of good fortune
and strength to renounce ailments. However, if you lost a turquoise
you would be afflicted by a physical ailment treatable only by a
Medicine Man.
Zuni
The Zuni believed the blue turquoise was male and of the sky, and
that green was female and of the earth. Most Zuni fetishes were
either made of turquoise or had turquoise properties such as eyes,
mouths, or attachments of turquoise, to give it more power. Turquoise
was powerful and important to most early ceremonials.
Rio Grande Pueblos
Most Rio Grande Pueblos believed that turquoise color was stolen
from the sky and preserved in stone. Their most precious idols were
adorned with turquoise. They also use turquoise for good fortune.
Hopi
The Hopi have many traditions regarding turquoise. They, like their
Rio Grande Pueblo and Zuni contemporaries, adorn their most important
fetishes with turquoise to enhance their powers. In one legend,
turquoise is the excrement of lizards, an animal that is greatly
respected for his above- and below-world connections. The Hopi believed
that turquoise can hold back floods, a common problem in the desert
Southwest.
Apache
The Apache felt attaching turquoise to a gun or a bow will cause
the weapon to shoot straight. It brought rain and could be found
at the end of all rainbows. It was key to the strength of their
medicine men.
Navajo
Wearing turquoise brings good fortune and insures favor with the
Yeis, who mediate between man and the supernatural. When thrown
into a river with the proper ceremonies, turquoise will help bring
rain. Turquoise is offered to the Wind Spirit to appease him; the
Navajo myth is that when the wind is blowing, it is searching for
turquoise. The Navajo carve fetishes out of turquoise for increased
powers and fortunes. Turquoise is the sacred stone and color of
the south and the upper world. The “Sacred Mountain of the
South,” Mt. Taylor near Grants, New Mexico, is made from a
mixture of turquoise and earth. The mountains are inhabited by Turquoise
Girl. Suffice to say, turquoise plays many roles in of their healing
ceremonies and sand paintings.
The Southwestern Indians use an abundance of turquoise in their
jewelry. Some of the turquoise is of exceptional quality and some
is not even turquoise. Most range between these extremes.
References / Recommended Readings
John Adair, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths, University
of Oklahoma Press, 1944.
Margery Bedinger, Indian Silver, Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers,
University of New Mexico Press, 1973.
M.G. Brown, Blue Gold, The Turquoise Story, Main Street
Press, Anaheim, CA, 1975.
Larry Frank, Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, Schiffer
Publishing Ltd., Westchester, Pennsylvania, 1990.
The International Turquoise Annuals, vol. I and II, 1975
and 1976 (only two published) Impart Pub, Reno, NV. Note in vol.
I the article on pages 31–55 by D. Allen Penick, “Turquoise,
the Mineral that’s an Accident.”
Carl Rosnek and Joseph Stacy, Skystone and Silver, Prentice
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1976.
Joseph E. Poque, Ph.D, The Turquoise, A report to the
National Academy of Science, vol. XII, Second and Third Memoir,
1915. Reprinted in 1974 by Rio Grande Press, Inc., Glorieta, NM.
(This reprint includes a foreword and details on Southwestern turquoise
mines by Rex Arrowsmith and an excellent reference list. )
Stuart A. Northrop, Turquoise and Spanish Mines in New Mexico,
University of New Mexico, Press, 1975.
Stuart A. Northrop, David L. Newman, David H. Snow, Turquoise,
reprinted by General Printing and Paper Co., Topeka, KS. A reprint
from El Palacio, vol. 79, No. 1, 1973, Museum of New Mexico.
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Related Indian Jewelry Articles by Lee and Eric Anderson
• “The
History of American Indian Jewelry”
• “The
Squash Blossom Necklace”
• “How
the Quality of Turquoise Affects Its Use in Jewelry”
• “Stones
Used In Indian Jewelry”
• “The
History of Turquoise”
• “The
Origin and Occurrence of Turquoise”
• “The
Physical Properties of Turquoise”
• “Natural,
Stabilized, Treated, Fake, and Synthetic Turquoise”
• “Turquoise
Quality”
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