The Blue Scorpion Rides Again: The Turquoise Mines of Xvshuuk Mniish

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Thirty-five years ago, the turquoise mines of the Xvshuuk Mniish (Blue Scorpion) site in southern Arizona, were recorded for the first time. This Hohokam turquoise mining and processing site was operated for approximately 300 years before being abruptly abandoned. After 35 years we return for a fresh look at the site to reexamine the spatial layout of the site, artifacts, beacon fires and trails, and the postulated routes which the turquoise was traded along. This presentation will also focus on procurement techniques associated with turquoise mining at the site including how the material was mined, what effort was expended to extract the raw blue stone, and the processing to finished trade product. Comparisons with other turquoise mines in the American southwest and Mexican northwest including those of the Ancestral Puebloans, Mimbres, Western Patayan, and their trading partners, the Chalchihuites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51419