In order to trace the provenance of ancient turquoises artifacts, many foreign scholars carried on extensive research, and made a lot of important achievements, especially in the United States. Research was classified into three distinct stages by reviewing documents. First stage was based on archaeological excavations and status quo survey to speculate about the producing area; Second stage was characterized by application of modern equipment and tools to gauge turquoise's trace elements. Characteristic profiles such as minor elements were analyzed by method such as Raman spectroscopy. The third stage is to analyze isotopes of the elements contained in the turquoise, and then determining the origin of turquoise. At the present stage the third scheme has been so successful that it has spawned imitators. Hydrogen, oxygen, strontium, lead and copper stable isotopes have been detected, and in practice, using different combinations of these isotopes seems to work well. Current researches in America was summarized which can provide valuable reference to the further works in China.