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The stone that sounds more precious than it is
Doesn't Lapis lazuli just sound exotic and precious? It's an age old gem that has been used for nearly 10,000 years... quite the history!
Stephen Turner
January 07, 2025
Wandering through Wikipedia… your daily dose of the weird and wonderful from the greatest website in the world!
There is evidence of Lapis Lazuli being mined as far back as the 7th millennia BC — so nearly 9,000 years ago! Lapis lazuli artefacts, dated to 7570 BC, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of Indus Valley civilisation, one of the cradles of civilisation.
Lapis Lazuli — a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity!
It stayed a prize of the Middle East until at least the late Middle Ages, when it started to be exported to Europe and used in a wide variety of products. An enterprising type ground it down and it became the basis for the pigment ultramarine, used by artists including Masaccio, Perugino, Titian and Vermeer.
While Afghanistan still has the best source in the world, it is also found in Chile, Siberia and in smaller amounts in Angola, Argentina, Burma, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, India, and in the United States.
Did you know?
There are many references to "sapphire" in the Old Testament, but most scholars think that since sapphire was an unknown gem before the Roman Empire, they most likely are references to lapis lazuli.