Further to Bernard's query about Native American mining of turquoise:
I spoke to Trudy Griffin-Pierce, an anthropologist with a special
interest in the history of Navajo craft traditions. She says that she
knows of no case of Navajo mining for turquoise. They appear to have
traded for it, in part with their neighbours the Hopi. The Hopi did mine
turquoise and coal - the coal was used to fire their pottery, which has
a highly distinctive creamy yellow slip. The mining of coal dates back
well before contact with Europeans.
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