Turquoise is one of the ancient minerals known as Iran. The most famous and oldest turquoise mine in Iran is the Neyshabora turquoise mine. Turquoise mining has been popular since seven thousand years ago. Turquoise mining in Neyshabur was initially done in surface areas with the help of manual tools, but it gradually expanded and mining was done underground by building tunnels following mineral veins. In many sources, hammer and pen are mentioned as mining tools. Gunpowder was used in these mines for the first time in the 1100s of AH, which, despite the increase in the speed of mining, decreased its price by reducing the size of the extracted turquoise. Until the end of the Safavid period, Neishabur turquoise was extracted by the government based on regular and scientific rules. However, with the beginning of the Qajar period and the extraction of mines by local governments and individuals in a completely unscientific manner, these mines began to fall into ruin. As a result, at the end of the Qajar period, almost all the mines were filled with water and stone, and Iranian turquoise gradually lost its place in the world markets. These beads belong to the Neolithic age (6000 to 6750 years BC) and it indicates that turquoise mining in Iran is even much older than the mentioned cases. In Clavikho's travelogue, which was written in 1412 and during the Safavid period, we read that: "There are famous turquoise mines near Neishabur. Mining in the mountain is very dangerous, the remaining tailings have been placed in a very bad shape with the help of stones and pieces of wood, and many novice miners have been buried inside it during different times. Turquoises of good color and large sizes have been found in this mine, but the color quickly disappears and turns into a dirty green color with white and gray spots. The turquoises of Ardalani mine are not of good quality, so that in the book of Javahernameh written in the 7th century AH, its turquoises are mentioned as the worst type of Neishabur turquoise. Due to the small amount of information about the way turquoise was mined in the sources before the Qajar period, it is not possible to speak with certainty about this issue, but according to the topics raised by Johri Neishaburi (592 AH), it seems that the use of tools It is suitable for breaking stones like hammer and chisel for mining.
)