Cultural Commonality and Diversity: Aesthetic Journey of Turquoise and Lapis Lazuli along the Ancient River Valleys

Throughout the history of humanity, gemstones had always been accompanying human beings, and precious stones with beauty and significant value had constantly emerged with the wonderful heritage among ancient civilizations. Previous research on the culture of jade, especially the culture of jade in ancient China, were mostly carried out to explore the relationship between jade and spiritual beliefs, moral concepts, and status symbols from aspects of shape, decoration, texture, and function of jade. But color, as the most distinct feature of gemstones, is less often mentioned on this subject. This article sheds light on the color of gemstones which come from nature, specifically turquoise blue, and lapis lazuli blue, from three of the most influential civilizations: ancient China, ancient Egypt, and Mesopotamia. Our research traces the relationship between humans and gemstones from the aspects of color cognition, cultural relics, gemstones resources and material flow. The purpose of this study is to provide a reference for promoting research on the exchange, mutual learning, and integrated development of the eastern and western cultures encoded in the interaction history of human and gemstones. Turquoise and lapis lazuli once played an important role in human civilization. The relationship between humanity, turquoise and lapis lazuli is essentially able to reflect and reveal human thinking and exploration between themselves and nature. There is no color without material, and materials construct the life of people. In the development of the above three ancient civilizations, turquoise and lapis lazuli are visual representations of social identity and human worship for nature. Moreover, the color, derived from turquoise and lapis lazuli, constantly influences and constructs human daily life in various material forms that collectively constitute the scene of coexistence, diversity, and interaction of multi-regional cultures.