Iran Nishapur, Ancient Turquoise mine معدن باستاني فيروزه نيشابور ايران

• published: 24 Nov 2014
• views: 727

November 22, 2014 (Persian calendar 1393/9/1) Razavi Khorasan province (استان خراسان رضوي) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razavi_Khorasan_Province Firuzeh county (شهرستان فيروزه) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firuzeh_County Nishapur (نيشاپور) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishapur Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gem and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue. In recent times, turquoise, like most other opaque gems, has been devalued by the introduction of treatments, imitations, and synthetics onto the market. The substance has been known by many names, but the word turquoise, which dates to the 16th century, is derived from an Old French word for "Turkish", because the mineral was first brought to Europe from Turkey, from the mines in historical Khorasan Province of Iran. Pliny the Elder referred to the mineral as callais, the Iranians named it "phirouzeh فيروزه" and the Aztecs knew it as Teoxihuitl. For at least 2,000 years, Iran, known before as Persia in the West, has remained an important source of turquoise which was named by Iranians initially "pirouzeh پيروزه" meaning "victory" and later after Arab invasion "firouzeh فيروزه" (In Arabic P پ doesn't exist this is why they change the letter to F ف). In Iranian architecture, the blue turquoise was used to cover the domes of the Iranian palaces because its intense blue color was also a symbol of heaven on earth. In this video you watch Firouzeh mine village روستاي معدن فيروزه and Zaak cave غار زاك. The ancient cave (currently Turquoise mine) has 15 floors, 42 Km tunnels and Iranian were mining to achieve Turquoise فيروزه in this mine since 5,000 years ago. You see ancient miner bones in video. See also this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNVzAk5a2FU