jade, jadeite, pyroxene jade, omphacite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Aztecs, Guatemala, Guatemala jade, Mexico, gems

The jade and other green stones which the Aztecs called chalchihuitl were highly prized by all Mesoamerican peoples from the earliest times. Deposits of the two varieties of stone known commercially as jade had not, at the time of writing, been found in Mexico. Kunz wrote in 1907: “Under the name of jade, however, are included two minerals, nephrite and jadeite, closely similar in appearance and properties, which were separated by Damour in 1865. Jadeite is a silica of alumina and soda, classed in the pyroxene group by mineralogists, while nephrite is a variety of amphibole or hornblende, a silica of alumina, lime and magnesia. In Mexico and Central America only jadeite is found, not nephrite, while among the jades of the Northwest Coast of America and Siberia, in New Zealand and Oceania, jadeite has not yet been recognized.” Since then, nephrite has been found in Mexico and Central America, and jadeite in Alaska and British Columbia. Foshag (1957) contributed to the mineralogical study of jade and other green stones worked by the Indians, and to the study of their carving and polishing techniques. Zelia Nuttall (1901) attempted to discover the sites where jade was extracted by examining the tribute roll listing the localities required to send tribute to Tenochtitlan in the form of strings or large beads of jade. No mention is made, however, of other objects such as figurines, lip-plugs, ear ornaments, and rings, which we know were made of jade. Jade, turquoise, rock crystal, and amber all come from a belt of country running through northern Guerrero, from the Río Alahuiztlan and the north bank of the Balsas, down to the frontier between Guerrero and Oaxaca in the region of Olinalá, Totomixtlahuaca, Zilacayoapan, and Tlaxiaco. It includes all the northern Mixteca and extends into Veracruz, through Cosamaloapan and Cotaxtla, as far as Tuxpan and Papantla; to the south it continues across the Valley of Oaxaca to the coast of Chiapas near Soconusco and Ayotla.