Lapis History

Facts

The royal deep blue color that has given lapis all the fame and magnificence is due to the presence of Lazurite – a deep blue color mineral.

For the entire history stretching across thousands of years, Afghanistan has remained the epicenter for mining of the most exquisite and royal lapis lazuli stones. Even today Afghanistan accounts for a major share of highest quality lapis production. Other areas of mining for lapis include Pakistan, Russia, Chile, Canada, Angola, and the US. However, the stones extracted from the mines of Afghanistan are still valued above others because of their purity, splendor, and magnificence.

HISTORY

Well, we can’t commit to the fact that Lapis was the first gemstone in history used as an ornament by humans. However, what we can confirm is that the archeologists have repeatedly found grave furnishings, chains, and beads made of lapis while excavating the ancient civilizations near the Mediterranean. That’s a clear indication of presence and regard of stone among the ancient civilizations of Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Romans, Greeks and Persians etc.

Artifacts from ancient civilizations have revealed the jewelry making practices of the time, where archeologists have found lapis jewelry being made as beads, inlays, cabochons etc. Well, it wasn’t just the ornamental stone; rather it was seen as a holy stone with many myths associated with it.

Earlier Egyptians believe the stone as a symbol of nobility and good luck, whereas, many ancient civilizations took the stone as holy and worthy of worship. History accredited Alexander the Great to introduce this magnificent stone to Europe while returning from his expeditions to Asia. Well, this might explain why the royal blue color of the stone was referred to as Ultramarine or simply translated to “Beyond the sea”.