Lapis Lazuli

Lapis lazuli, also known simply as "lapis," is a blue metamorphic rock that has been used by people as a gemstone, sculpting material, pigment, and ornamental material for thousands of years. High quality lapis lazuli can be a costly gem. The most desirable specimens have a rich, solid blue color and perhaps a few reflective pieces of gold pyrite. Unlike most other gem materials, lapis lazuli is not a mineral. Instead, it is a rock composed of multiple minerals.

The blue color of lapis lazuli is mainly derived from the presence of lazurite, a blue silicate mineral of the sodalite group. Lapis lazuli forms near igneous intrusions where limestone or marble has been altered by contact metamorphism or hydrothermal metamorphism. In these rocks, lazurite replaces portions of the host rock and often preferentially develops within certain bands or layers. Afghanistan is the world's leading source of lapis lazuli. Some parts of the country have been actively mined for thousands of years.

Other countries that produce notable amounts of lapis lazuli include Chile, Russia, Canada, Argentina, and Pakistan. In the United States small amounts of lapis lazuli have been produced in California, Colorado, and Arizona. Our materials on this live are all from the ancient mine, Sar-e Sang which produces the best lapis in the world, still. In addition to lazurite, specimens of lapis lazuli usually contain calcite and pyrite. Sodalite, hauyne, wollastonite, afghanite, mica, dolomite, diopside, and a diversity of other minerals might also be present.

To be called "lapis lazuli," a rock must have a distinctly blue color and contain at least 25% blue lazurite. Calcite is often the second most abundant mineral present in lapis lazuli. Its presence can be very obvious, appearing as white layers, fractures, or mottling. It can also be finely intermixed with lazurite to produce a rock with a faded denim color. Pyrite usually occurs in lapis lazuli as tiny, randomly spaced grains with a contrasting gold color.

When abundant, the grains can be concentrated or intergrown into distinct layers or patches. It can occasionally occur as a fracture-filling mineral. ining for lapis occurred in the Badakhshan Province of northeastern Afghanistan as early as 7000 BC. The lapis was used to make beads, small jewelry items and small sculptures. These have been found at Neolithic archaeological sites dating back to about 3000 BC in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Lapis lazuli appears in many Egyptian archaeological sites that date back to about 3000 BC. It was used in many ornamental objects and jewelry. Powdered lapis was used as a cosmetic and a pigment. In Biblical times the word "sapphire" was often used as a name for lapis lazuli. For that reason, many scholars believe that at least some of the references to sapphire in the Bible are actually references to lapis lazuli.

Some modern translations of the Bible use the word "lapis" instead of "sapphire." Lapis lazuli started to be seen in Europe during the Middle Ages. It arrived in the form of jewelry, cutting rough, and finely ground pigment. Ultramarine blue made from lapis lazuli is one of the few natural pigments with a permanent and vivid blue color, good opacity, and high stability. It has always been very expensive and today can sell for over $1,000 per pound.

Location: Kokcha Valley, in Badakshan Province, Afghanistan