Since ancient times, cultures around the world have admired the distinct color of turquoise.

The earliest evidence of turquoise gemstones comes from ancient Egyptian tombs, which contain elaborate turquoise jewelry dating back to 3000 BCE. Egyptians set turquoise in gold necklaces and rings, used it as inlay, and carved it into scarabs. Most notably, King Tut’s iconic burial mask was extravagantly adorned with turquoise.

 

The oldest turquoise mines are in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. One sat near an ancient temple dedicated to Hathor, the Greek goddess of love and joy who was worshiped as a protector in the desert and as the patron saint of mining. Egyptians called turquoise mefkat, which meant “joy” and “delight.”

Ancient Persians decorated extensively with turquoise, often engraving it with Arabic script. Turquoise covered palace domes because its sky-blue color represented heaven. This later inspired the use of turquoise in buildings like the Taj Mahal.

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I wanted to pay homage to the first civilization to mine this amazing gemstone by giving the name Isis. Soon I will have Turquoise Jewlery fabricated to emulate those symbols representing The Goddess Isis. Symbols used to represent Isis include the Moon Disk, Cow Horns, Wings, the Kite Hawk, and Sycamore Trees.

Isis was the wife of Osiris, the god of the afterlife, and the mother of Horus( The God of the Sun). Isis is most closely associated with being a mourner, protector, and a mother. 

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Meanwhile, pre-Columbian Native Americans mined the turquoise stone throughout the present-day southwestern United States. Shamans used it in sacred ceremonies to commune with the spirit of the sky.

Apache Indians believed that attaching turquoise to bows (and later, firearms) improved a hunter’s accuracy.

Turquoise became valuable in Native American trade, which carried North American material toward South America. Consequently, Aztecs cherished turquoise for its protective power and used it on ceremonial masks, knives, and shields.

The turquoise-studded silver jewelry that’s commonly associated with Native Americans today originated in the 1880s, when a white trader convinced a Navajo craftsman to transform a silver coin into turquoise jewelry.

While many historic turquoise deposits have depleted over the gemstone’s long lifetime, some small mine operations (mainly in the U.S.) still produce fine material today.

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Having been hard rock mining for over 20 years, I have nothing but respect and admiration to ALL of the miners that have paved the way and those continuing the tradition today! Very grateful to be apart of turquoise mining!