The Distribution and Provenance of Turquoise from Southern New Mexico, USA and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Recent Research at Jornada Mogollon Sites in South-Central New Mexico" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Compared to other regions of the Southwest, little is known about prehispanic turquoise acquisition and exchange in southern New Mexico and adjacent parts of Texas or in Chihuahua, Mexico. Here, we explore the distribution of sites with turquoise in the Tularosa and Hueco Basins as well as in northern Chihuahua. In addition, we use lead and strontium isotopes to investigate the provenance of turquoise artifacts from the Tularosa Basin and Paquimé. In the Tularosa Basin, turquoise from the nearby Orogrande mining district predominates in assemblages from Jornada Mogollon sites with occupational components related to the Doña Ana (AD 1000-1250) and El Paso (AD 1250-1450) phases. Given the close proximity of these sites to the Orogrande source, the abundance of raw turquoise and finished ornaments, and other evidence for regional interaction, it is possible that the inhabitants of the Tularosa Basin mined and manufactured turquoise for both personal adornment and trade. To investigate whether or not this trade could have extended far to the south, we also analyzed two turquoise artifacts from Paquimé. Although we were not able to link either artifact to Orogrande, isotopic measurements indicate that at least one artifact was imported from central Arizona.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Recent Research at Jornada Mogollon Sites in South-Central New Mexico   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23680