Turquoise in the Southwest

                                       Navajo matriarch wearing her heirloom turquoise jewelry
                                                 

                                                  

            The use of turquoise among the natives of America was originally limited to the area bordered by the Isthmus of Panama on one side and by a line drawn eastwardly from the Pacific Coast through southern Nevada and Colorado, then south across Texas to the Gulf of Mexico.  In prehistoric cultures of the Americas we find no important turquoise deposits outside of these boundaries.  The abundance of turquoise beads in early sites in the Southwest, as opposed to their absence in other parts of North America, indicates that the original pueblo dwellers did not travel east to trade and had little communication with Indians in the northern, southern, or eastern United States.  They tended to trade via routes to South America or California where specimens of New Mexican turquoise have been unearthed.

            Turquoise was extensively used by aboriginal peoples for several reasons:

1. Turquoise occurred close to the surface so deposits were readily located by the first people.
2. The mineral is relatively soft and easily worked by primitive methods.
3. The colors of turquoise range from the blues of sky and water to the greens of plant and tree.  That held a mystical appeal for Native Americans.

There are numerous turquoise sources, both ancient and modern.  While most of them are now mined by outside operations, it is believed that certain tribes have secret localities known only to themselves where turquoise is still found and used for esoteric purposes. Contemporary Indians, however, do not engage in any systemic mining for turquoise and usually acquire it from itinerant traders, trading posts on the reservation or lapidary supply stores in the bordering towns. 

Within the pueblos and among the Dine people (Navajo), turquoise beads and fetishes have been cherished as part of the family’s wealth and history.  Turquoise deposits of any significance show signs of early exploitation.  The best example is Los Cerillos in New Mexico where excavations date back to pre-Spanish times. The sources of turquoise in the Southwest are easy to document, but difficult to trace down the old trade routes to Mexico and Central America.  In ancient times, there was no meaningful supply south of the Mexican border.  It is surmised that the Aztecs traded with pueblos to acquire turquoise that came from the Cerillos hills and other deposits in the Southwest.  Today this has changed and miners are finding excellent turquoise deposits such as Campo Frio and Nacozari in Mexico.  

                                            Pueblo Indian cutting and polishing rough turquoise

Cabeza deVaca was the first European to record the use of turquoise among the pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico.  In 1535, with three friends, he made the journey from Texas to Sonora on the Pacific Coast that ultimately led to the discovery of New Mexico by the Spanish.  Traveling near the Pacific Coast he was presented with turquoise beads by the natives.  Among the Sierra Madre Indians, about ninety miles east of the Yaqui River in Sonora, deVaca found Indians in possession of turquoise fetishes and beads.  These Indians explained that it was acquired to the north in exchange for parrot feathers and shells.

In 1539, Fray Marcos de Niza in company with Estevan the Black traveled northward as far as present day New Mexico searching for the legendary ‘Seven Cities of Gold,’ also called ‘Seven Cities of Cibola.’  At Rio San Pedro in southern Arizona, the last region of village Indians before the Pueblo of Zuni, he discovered that the Sobaipuris Indians wore great quantities of turquoise beads.  As he neared Cibola (Zuni) he came upon a village at the edge of the desert where the people wore turquoise beads and pendants called ‘cacona’ suspended from their ears and nostrils.  The wearing of these ornaments was called ‘casconados.’  He was told that these beads abounded in Cibola as well as at Marata (the ruined pueblo also called ‘Makyata’ near Zuni), at Acus (the present Pueblo of Acoma), and at Tontonteac (the Tusayan or Hopi lands to the northwest of Zuni).

 The so called ‘Seven Cities of Gold’ were actually a group of adobe pueblos, now in ruins, centered about the present Pueblo of Zuni.  Fray Marcos and Estevan arrived at sunset and the setting sun shining on the adobe created the illusion of gold, so feverishly sought by the early explorers.  They ran crazed into the pueblo, screaming about gold  but there was none.  Instead of gold they were disillusioned to discover the natives valued turquoise above all else and used it as a medium of exchange.  The Indians thought they were crazy.

Coming soon: Coronado in  the Southwest, Pueblo Bonito, Prototype of the Ancient Bead-makers, Plains Indian Medicine Bundles.

                     Inlaid turquoise earrings by Angie Reano Owen of Santo Domingo Pueblo

Part II: Prehistoric Offerings of Turquoise

                           Turquoise pendant inlaid on shell by Angie Reano Owen

In the construction of ancient Hopi homes, a ceremonial opening was left on the outer surface of the front wall, just to the left of the entrance.  It stands approximately five feet from the ground.  On the day of dedication for the house, a feast was prepared.  But before anyone could sample the delicacies, a small helping had to be placed in the opening, along with shell and turquoise beads.  This insured a peaceful and happy life in the new house.  Then the opening was plastered over to match the rest of the existing wall. 

This tradition of sacrificial deposits in the masonry has existed since time immemorial in the Southwest.  On the upper surface of the roof supports at Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico (circa 1200 A.D.), archeologists discovered a thin layer of adobe that had cracked in places revealing a log embedded in the wall.  It served as a plug to cover ritual deposits of turquoise and shell beads, bits of crude shell and turquoise matrix.  Deposits of this sort were found at critical points in the structure of rooms throughout the great pueblo.  These beads lie where they literally supported the whole roof, exactly under the principle structural members.

                                         Kiva remains at Pueblo Bonito: kivas are underground
                                         ceremonial chambers serving native purposes as churches
                                         serve Christian purposes.

            In discussing turquoise beads as they relate to pre-historic ceremonial offerings, Neil Judd, who worked over twenty-five years on the excavation of Pueblo Bonito, offers this observation:

            “Most of the turquoise mined was discarded because of its unfavorable color.  Sky-blue tones have everywhere been preferred, but the ancient pueblos were not adverse to those of lesser merit.  The Bonitans, for example, often used pale blue or greenish stones for mosaics and beads: less frequently, for pendants.  And, with native canniness, when called upon to make personal offerings they sacrificed their off-color ornaments first.  We note relatively few prize stones in ceremonial offerings.” *

*Page 83, The Material Culture of Pueblo Bonito