What kind of mineral do you think this is?
Where is it found?
How has it been used by people?
Answers:
What kind of mineral do you think this is?
This pretty green stone is polished turquoise. It was donated to the Karshner Center in 1985.
Where is it found?
Interestingly, the English word "turquoise" derives from the French word for "Turkish," because turquoise from Iran traveled through Turkey before it arrived in European marketplaces. The Ancient Egyptians were also known to be very fond of turquoise. Another region with significant deposits of turquoise is the American Southwest, where it became important in American Indian and Aztec cultures. Today turquoise is becoming increasingly rare.
How has it been used by people?
Turquoise has been put to decorative use to make jewelry and other arts & crafts for millennia, but the most interesting uses are where it has cultural value. In Western culture, turquoise is also the traditional birthstone for December.
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