---
title: Turquoise in Mesoamerica
author: Mark Cartwright
source: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2053/turquoise-in-mesoamerica/
format: machine-readable-alternate
license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
updated: 2022-08-24
---
# Turquoise in Mesoamerica
_Authored by [Mark Cartwright](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/markzcartwright/)_
Turquoise was a highly-prized material in ancient Mesoamerica, perhaps the most valued of all materials for sacred and decorative art objects such as masks, jewellery, and the costumes of rulers and high priests. Turquoise was acquired through [trade](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/trade/), the finest coming from the American southwest. The stone was also associated with deities like the fire [god](https://www.worldhistory.org/God/) [Xiuhtecuhtli](https://www.worldhistory.org/Xiuhtecuhtli/), known as 'Turquoise Lord'.
### Properties & Trade
Turquoise ([copper](https://www.worldhistory.org/copper/) aluminium phosphate) is a semi-precious stone, typically with an opaque appearance. The colour of turquoise found in Mesoamerica varies from a darker greenish-blue to lighter shades like sky blue and aquamarine (Persian turquoise, for example, is very rarely green in hue). The stone's green to blue colour variations reflect the varying levels of iron or copper in the stone. Pieces commonly include areas of dark veining caused by iron oxides.
[  Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli (Detail) The British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16207/mask-of-xiuhtecuhtli-detail/ "Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli (Detail)")Turquoise is a relatively soft stone making it easy to cut and carve; it can be polished to give a waxy lustre. Unfortunately, the colour of turquoise can deteriorate over time, and this accounts for the rather dull shades of some of the Mesoamerican artefacts made in that material which have survived to the present.
Turquoise was prized because of its rarity, as there were no sources of it in most of Mesoamerica, and it had to be imported through trade. Although turquoise dating to the Preclassic Period (2nd-1st millennium BCE) has been found, significant regional trade in the material only really started in the Early Postclassic Period (from 1000 CE). Most turquoise used in Mesoamerican cultures came from what is today New Mexico, specifically the Cerillos region, as indicated by chemical analysis of artefacts. Turquoise was available in northern Mexico but was inferior in quality to stone from New Mexico. Mesoamerican goods like exotic bird feathers were traded in exchange. Such was the importance of turquoise to regional trade, the routes from Mesoamerica to the American Southwest have been compared to the [Silk Routes](https://www.worldhistory.org/Silk_Road/) from [China](https://www.worldhistory.org/china/) to [Europe](https://www.worldhistory.org/europe/) and so called the 'Turquoise Road'.
The first major Mesoamerican [culture](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/culture/) to use turquoise extensively was the [Toltec civilization](https://www.worldhistory.org/Toltec_Civilization/) of central Mexico which flourished between the 10th and 12th centuries, but it was highly prized by others such as the [Maya](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Maya/), Tarascans, and Aztecs (aka Mexica). Although largely reserved for the political, religious, and military elites, turquoise was gathered in large quantities, as shown by the excavations at [Casas Grandes](https://www.worldhistory.org/Casas_Grandes/) (aka Paquimé) led by Charles Di Peso, which discovered warehouses filled with the precious material. Similarly, finds of storehouses of turquoise at Alta Vista in northwest Mexico (where there are no local deposits) show that the scale of production was quite large. At Alta Vista, there is evidence the ore was collected and then worked into small finished tiles for distribution elsewhere in Mesoamerica. That turquoise was reserved for society's elite is shown in the graves of Alta Vista, where it was deposited along with other precious materials in rich tombs clearly indicating the occupant belonged to the higher echelons of the community. Maya sites like [Chichen Itza](https://www.worldhistory.org/Chichen_Itza/) also show that turquoise was imported. [Aztec](https://www.worldhistory.org/Aztec_Civilization/) rulers included unworked turquoise in the list of goods they extracted as tribute from conquered tribes within their [empire](https://www.worldhistory.org/empire/).
### Common Uses
Craftworkers able to make art from materials like shell and turquoise were highly esteemed in Mesoamerican cultures. For example, artisans who worked turquoise were housed in a distinct part of the royal [palace](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/palace/) at the Aztec capital of [Tenochtitlan](https://www.worldhistory.org/Tenochtitlan/), the *totocalli* or "bird house".
[  Aztec Ceremonial Knife Trustees of the British Museum (Copyright) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/2291/aztec-ceremonial-knife/ "Aztec Ceremonial Knife")Turquoise was commonly used as an inlay material for jewellery such as diadems, necklaces, pendants, anklets, bracelets, belts, pectorals, earplugs, and studs (commonly worn in the lower lip by the nobility). It could be worn as beads on various parts of the body or as additions to more complex pieces of jewellery. As [mosaic](https://www.worldhistory.org/Mosaic/), turquoise was used to cover almost anything from knife handles to mirror frames. Typically, the backing material of mosaic work was wood, with the tiles (tesserae) glued on using pine resin. The natural colour variations of turquoise were often cleverly exploited by Mesoamerican artists when using small mosaic tiles to create effects of light and depth, accentuating the contours of the piece on which the tiles were applied. The Aztecs were great collectors of art pieces made by earlier Mesoamerican cultures, and they often embellished these older pieces by adding turquoise mosaic.
As a precious material, turquoise was used in votive offerings. A sacred cenote at Maya Chichen Itza, for example, contained many [gold](https://www.worldhistory.org/gold/) and turquoise discs thrown into it during religious ceremonies. Precious goods like those made with turquoise have also been excavated from the foundations of Mesoamerican [temple](https://www.worldhistory.org/temple/) [pyramids](https://www.worldhistory.org/pyramid/), a fine example being the turquoise shield dedicated to the rain god [Tlaloc](https://www.worldhistory.org/Tlaloc/) which was buried beneath the [Templo Mayor](https://www.worldhistory.org/Templo_Mayor/) at Tenochtitlan.
[  Aztec Turquoise Shield The British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16217/aztec-turquoise-shield/ "Aztec Turquoise Shield")### Religious Associations
The esteem in which turquoise was held by ancient Mesoamericans is indicated in the stone's association with several important gods. Both the Toltecs and Aztecs worshipped [Tonatiuh](https://www.worldhistory.org/Tonatiuh/), the 5th and present sun in the Aztec view of the cosmos. His name translates as 'Turquoise Lord'. Indeed, the Aztecs thought that the Sun was made of turquoise.
Another major deity was the god of fire Xiuhtecuhtli, confusingly, also known as 'Turquoise Lord', perhaps because of the close link between fire and the Sun or even the blueness at the heart of an intense flame. The Nahuatl word for turquoise is *xihuitl*, a term also used for both fire and time itself or, perhaps more accurately, the solar year. Xiuhtecuhtli was associated with the xiuhtotl bird because it was a turquoise colour, and the god is often shown in art with such a bird perched on his forehead.
Depictions of gods wearing turquoise are seen in Mesoamerican wall paintings such as those created between the 11th and 12th centuries at Tulum on the east coast of the Yucatan peninsula in southern Mexico. Xiuhtecuhtli was envisaged in Aztec culture as wearing a pointed turquoise crown, breastplate, and mosaic shield. As Xiuhtecuhtli was also associated with warriors, they too wore items of turquoise, particularly pectorals in the form of stylised butterflies or dogs. Dead warriors were often cremated wearing paper-like imitations of turquoise jewellery.
Xiuhtecuhtli became associated with rulers during the Late Postclassic Period (13th-16th centuries), and so they, too, wore a pointed crown or diadem made of turquoise mosaic applied to a sheet of gold, the *xiuhuitzolli*. This crown was also a Nahuatl glyph and used to represent rulers, military leaders, judges, and the Aztec ruler [Moctezuma](https://www.worldhistory.org/Montezuma/) I (r. 1440-1469). Aztec rulers also wore at their coronation ceremony the *xiuhtlapilli tilmahtli*, a blue cloak decorated with pieces of turquoise.
[  Aztec Turquoise Pendant British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16206/aztec-turquoise-pendant/ "Aztec Turquoise Pendant")Effigies of gods were stood on the tops of temple pyramids, and these were often adorned with turquoise. The figure of the [war](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/War/) god [Huitzilopochtli](https://www.worldhistory.org/Huitzilopochtli/), which stood on top of the Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan, was so adorned. The fire [serpents](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Serpents/) known as *xiuhcoatl* – Huitzilopochtli carries one as a weapon – were also thought to have skins covered in turquoise, and so these creatures are often represented as such in Mesoamerican art.
Mesoamerican priests often wore turquoise masks during important ceremonies. The [Aztec New Fire Ceremony](https://www.worldhistory.org/article/866/the-aztec-new-fire-ceremony/), also known as the Binding of the Years Ceremony or *Toxhiuhmolpilia*, was a ritual held only once every 52 years, the completion of a full cycle of the Aztec solar year (*xiuhmopilli*). The purpose of the ritual was none other than to renew the sun and ensure another 52-year cycle. During the ceremony, a high priest dressed as Xiuhtecuhtli and wore a turquoise mask as he sacrificed the heart of a living victim and attempted to begin a sacred fire in the now-empty chest cavity. If the fire did not light, the sun would not be renewed, and there would be no new 52-year cycle; in short, this would be the end of the Aztec world. The association with Xiuhtecuhtli and time explains why the symbol of turquoise was a circle with an hourglass in the centre. An alternative symbol for the semi-precious stone in the Late Postclassic Period was a quincunx (like the five on a dice), which was also how the Aztecs viewed their universe.
[  Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli Trustees of the British Museum (Copyright) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/2234/mask-of-xiuhtecuhtli/ "Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli")### Turquoise Masterpieces
**[Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli](https://www.worldhistory.org/article/641/the-mask-of-xiuhtecuhtli/)**
One of the most striking of all art pieces from Mesoamerica is a turquoise mosaic mask representing the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli which dates to 1400-1521 CE. The mask is of cedar wood with mother-of-pearl eyes, conch shell teeth, and it once had gold leaf on the eyelids. The outer surface is made of hundreds of turquoise tiles, with those around the eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth cut with particular precision. The choice of colour shades has been carefully considered, with lighter, bluer shades used where the light would naturally catch a face such as the nose, cheeks, and forehead.
A peculiar feature of the mask is the deliberate use of raised tiles at various points, almost like warts. These 'warts' have led some scholars to speculate that the mask may represent the sun god Tonatiuh, that deity having once been an old and wart-covered god who sacrificed himself by jumping into a fire, from which action Tonatiuh was born. In contrast, other scholars point out that the slightly darker shades of the tesserae on the cheeks and bridge of the nose create a stylised butterfly, as do those on the forehead, a creature closely associated with Xiuhtecuhtli and a symbol of change and renewal.
The mask was meant to be either worn by a god impersonator in religious ceremonies or worn by an effigy of the god, as indicated by the small hole on either side of the piece through which a cord would have passed. The mask was almost certainly part of the treasure brought back from Mesoamerica by the [conquistador](https://www.worldhistory.org/Conquistador/) [Hernán Cortés](https://www.worldhistory.org/Hernan_Cortes/) (1485-1547) and presented to Charles V, Holy [Roman Emperor](https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Emperor/) (r. 1519-1556). The mask is on permanent display in the British Museum, London.
[  Aztec Double-Headed Serpent (Detail) British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/2199/aztec-double-headed-serpent-detail/ "Aztec Double-Headed Serpent (Detail)")### Double-headed Snake Pectoral
Another masterpiece in turquoise, and also now housed in the British Museum, is a striking double-headed snake pectoral. Contemporary with the mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, this piece is again of carved cedarwood which has been completely covered in small squares of turquoise. The two red mouths are of red thorny oyster shell, and the white teeth are conch shell. The eyes would once have been inlaid with a material like pyrite or obsidian, as indicated by remaining traces of beeswax.
This, too, was likely once part of a ceremonial costume probably in connection with the feathered-snake god [Quetzalcoatl](https://www.worldhistory.org/Quetzalcoatl/). The snake was a powerful and frequently-used image in Mesoamerican art as it represented regeneration (since the reptile regularly sheds its skin). The double-headed snake or *maquizcoatl* was considered a bad omen, but the name is also associated with Huitzilopochtli, and so this piece may have been worn across the chest of a high priest linked with that god. The work measures 17 inches or 43.3 centimetres across.
[  Tezcatlipoca Turquoise Skull Trustees of the British Museum (Copyright) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1382/tezcatlipoca-turquoise-skull/ "Tezcatlipoca Turquoise Skull")### [Tezcatlipoca](https://www.worldhistory.org/Tezcatlipoca/) Skull
A third masterpiece of turquoise that has found its way into the British Museum is a human skull (male, aged around 30) covered in mosaic to represent the [Toltec](https://www.worldhistory.org/Toltec_Civilization/) and Aztec god Tezcatlipoca who was closely associated with creation, [warfare](https://www.worldhistory.org/warfare/), and change through conflict. It may have been worn as a back ornament, although its interior lining and straps of deerskin may suggest otherwise. The god was frequently depicted in art with a black stripe across his face, and this is here represented by tiles of lignite. The eyes are rendered in polished pyrite with white conch shell, while the nose cavity is covered with red thorny oyster shell. Once again, the turquoise tiles have been expertly shaped to perfectly cover the contours of the skull behind them.
#### Editorial Review
This human-authored article has been reviewed by our editorial team before publication to ensure accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards in accordance with our [editorial policy](https://www.worldhistory.org/static/editorial-policy/).
## Bibliography
- [Carballo, David M. *Collision of Worlds.* Oxford University Press, 2022.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0197661459/)
- [Coe, Michael D. & Koontz, Rex. *Mexico.* Thames & Hudson, 2013.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/B00DGMPN4M/)
- [MCEWAN COLIN. *Moctezuma Aztec Ruler /anglais.* BRITISH MUSEUM, 2009.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0714125857/)
- [Miller, Mary Ellen & Taube, Karl. *An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya.* Thames & Hudson, 1997.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0500279284/)
- [Miller, Mary Ellen. *Art of Mesoamerica.* Thames & Hudson, 2019.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0500204500/)
- [Nichols, Deborah L. & Pool, Christopher A. *The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology .* Oxford University Press, 2016.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0190230800/)
- [Read, Kay Almere & Gonzalez, Jason J. *Mesoamerican Mythology.* Oxford University Press, 2002.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0195149092/)
## About the Author
Mark is WHE’s Publishing Director and has an MA in Political Philosophy (University of York). He is a full-time researcher, writer, historian and editor. Special interests include art, architecture and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share.
## Questions & Answers
### Why did the Aztecs use turquoise?
The Aztecs used turquoise because it was a rare imported material and they associated it with certain gods like the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli.
### Did the Aztecs have turquoise?
The Aztecs had turquoise because they imported it from northern Mexico and Southwest America (New Mexico). They had no natural sources of turquoise in their own territory.
### What did the Aztecs think about the colour turquoise?
The Aztecs thought the colour turquoise and the material itself was closely linked to the gods. They envisaged certain gods as wearing turquoise, they considered the Sun was made of turquoise, and they associated it with warfare and rulership. The Aztec word for turquoise was the same as the word for fire and time.
## Cite This Work
### APA
Cartwright, M. (2022, August 17). Turquoise in Mesoamerica. *World History Encyclopedia*.
### Chicago
Cartwright, Mark. "Turquoise in Mesoamerica." *World History Encyclopedia*, August 17, 2022. .
### MLA
Cartwright, Mark. "Turquoise in Mesoamerica." *World History Encyclopedia*, 17 Aug 2022, .
## License & Copyright
Submitted by [Mark Cartwright](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/markzcartwright/ "User Page: Mark Cartwright"), published on 17 August 2022. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.