13 Facts About Lapis lazuli

1.

Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.

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2.

Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to 7570 BC, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of Indus Valley civilisation.

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3.

Lapis lazuli was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation .

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4.

Lapis lazuli beads have been found at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and as far away as Mauritania.

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5.

Some samples of lapis lazuli contain augite, diopside, enstatite, mica, hauynite, hornblende, nosean, and sulfur-rich lollingite geyerite.

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6.

Lapis lazuli usually occurs in crystalline marble as a result of contact metamorphism.

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7.

Lapis lazuli takes an excellent polish and can be made into jewellery, carvings, boxes, mosaics, ornaments, small statues, and vases.

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8.

Lapis lazuli is commercially synthesized or simulated by the Gilson process, which is used to make artificial ultramarine and hydrous zinc phosphates.

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9.

Lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan and exported to the Mediterranean world and South Asia since the Neolithic age, along the ancient trade route between Afghanistan and the Indus Valley, dating to the 7th millennium BC.

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10.

Lapis lazuli was used in ancient Mesopotamia by the Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians for seals and jewelry.

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11.

Lapis lazuli jewellery has been found at excavations of the Predynastic Egyptian site Naqada .

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12.

Jewelry made of lapis lazuli has been found at Mycenae attesting to relations between the Myceneans and the developed civilizations of Egypt and the East.

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13.

In late classical times and as late as the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli was often called sapphire, though it had little to do with the stone today known as the blue corundum variety sapphire.

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