42 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 



through Persia in 1294 and says of the kingdom of Kerman that the 

 stones called turquoises are produced there in great abundance; they 

 are found in the mountains, where they are extracted from the rocks. 

 Gen. A. Houtum Schindler ^ to whom we owe an excellent description 

 from the geological viewpoint of the Persian turquois-mines has not 

 solved the problem as to the antiquity of the mining operations; the 

 late report of Ibn Mansur is the only document quoted by him.^ In 

 one passage (p. 307) we read the general remark: "Seit Jahrtausenden 

 ist in diesen Gruben gearbeitet worden," which is no more than a 

 personal impression. We live in a skeptic age and are not willing to 

 believe so easily in millenniums, if no evidence of hard and cold facts 

 is advanced. Every human activity is defined by time; language 

 and history seem to militate against such an unfounded surmise.' 

 These observations on the history of turquois in Persia form another 

 reason why I am not at all sanguine in accepting the explanation of 

 se-se by turquois when such early texts as Pei shi, Sui shu, and T'ang 

 shu come into question and refer to a time when it must be doubted, 

 at least for the present, that turquois was known in Persia or had any 

 significance in her culture. The Chinese accounts plainly refer to 

 Sassanian Persia, while all references to turquois in Persia, at least in 

 the present state of our knowledge, are post-Sassanian. 



In our attempts to identify the names of stones mentioned in ancient 



Society, 1902, p. 942) who has studied the archaeology of the Kerman region reports 

 on the tombs: "In each tomb were a yellow jar of pottery, round bowls of three sizes, 

 a pair of bracelets, two pins, and some arrow and spear heads, all of which were of 

 bronze except the vessels. In addition, two or three carnelian gems were found, and 

 some small silver earrings and bracelets. The custom of placing a carnelian in a 

 dead man's mouth, with the names of the twelve Imam engraved on it, is one that 

 obtains nowadays." There is no report of a find of turquoises in a grave of the 

 Kerman region. 



1 Die Gegend zwischen Sabzwar und Meschhed in Persien (Jahrbuch der k. k. 

 geologischen Reichsanstalt, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 303-314, Wien, 1886). 



^ When Ibn Mansur says that the best mine of those at Nishapur is the one dis- 

 covered by Isaac, the father of Israel, and hence called Isaac's mine, this is certainly 

 a legend without historical value. The account of Ibn Manstir seems to be pieced 

 together from different sources; the lapidarium of Pseudo- Aristotle is evidently 

 utilized (for example, in the statement that turquois is light and brilliant in clear 

 weather, but dim and dull when the sky is clouded). According to Ruska (/. c, 

 p. 35) , matter and arrangement of his work largely depends on Tifashl. Regarding the 

 Chinese, Ibn MansQr remarks that they like the tarmaleh (a word queried by Schind- 

 ler), turquoises intersected by other stone, and employ these for the adornment of 

 their idols and women. This is apparently an error and should read "Tibetans" 

 instead of Chinese (compare p. 13). Travelers who visited the mines are quoted 

 by A. V. W. Jackson (/. c, p. 259). 



^ The last (eleventh) edition of the Encyclopcedia Britannica gives two items of 

 information of a contradictory character. In Vol. XIX (p. 710) mention is made of 

 Madan, 32 miles N. W. of the city of Nishapar, "where the famous mines are which 

 have supplied the world with turquoises for at least 2,000 years." A more moderate 

 attitude is observed in Vol. XXVII (p. 483) where it is said: "In Persia the turquois 

 mines have been worked for .at least eight centuries." 



