Аннотация:The mankind has known turquoise for more than ten thousand years. This is the only “live” mineral which can change its color with weather changes and the condition of its owner. Probably it is one of the reasons why it has always been surrounded by so many legends and superstitions in most cultures of the world. Turquoise was already mentioned in the first works about minerals and in a number of myths, especially those of the Navajo Indians of the U.S. South-West. In all continents it has been considered the happiest semi-precious stone which has taken a unique place in the history of civilizations and is still used in a great number of spheres of human activity.
The paper describes its major mineral qualities, deposits, the origins of its name, the most important and the oldest turquoise objects found during archeological digs, the use of turquoise in different countries and times, the legends about it, its role in different mythologies, traditional jewelry techniques of several North American Indian tribes, the varieties of the mineral and its imitations. A special emphasis is laid on the use of turquoise and the beliefs associated with it in American Indian cultures.
A Navajo myth about the goddess called Changing Woman (or Turquoise Woman) is studied separately as an explanation of a special attitude of American Indians to that stone and its very important role in their life up to the present day.