Join the Millicent Rogers Museum as we celebrate the 2019 Turquoise Gala Weekend. Starting the weekend off with the History of Turquoise. This program benefits the Millicent Rogers Museum.
Dr. Frances Joan Mathien will present the history of turquoise. She has been researching Chaco Canyon for nearly thirty years, and is retired from the National Park Service. Dr. Mathien has produced considerable research on the use of turquoise. She worked on the Chaco Project analyzing ornaments and minerals. Currently she is researching the Chaco field schools held from 1929-1942, and 1947. Dr. Mathien will discuss how Native Americans in the Southwest used gems and minerals for beads, pendants and mosaic pieces; known sources for some of the minerals; possible trade relationships that moved goods between different cultural groups; and the continuity of the gems’ use into the present.