Lapis lazuli, often shortened to simply ‘lapis’, is a relatively rare semi-precious stone that has been sought after for eons for its intense blue color. Lapis lazuli has been acquired from mines in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan for over 6,000 years and there are sources that are found as far east as in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia. Trade in the stone is ancient enough for lapis jewelry to have been found at Predynastic Egyptian sites, and as lapis beads at neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and even as far from Afghanistan as Mauritania.

Lapis lazuli is a rock, largely formed from the mineral lazurite. The main component of lapis lazuli is lazurite – a silicate mineral. Most lapis lazuli also contains calcite, sodalite, and pyrite. Other possible constituents are: augite; diopside; enstatite; mica; hauynite; hornblende, and nosean. Some lapis lazuli contains trace amounts of the sulfur-rich löllingite variety geyerite. Lapis lazuli usually occurs in crystalline marble as a result of contact metamorphism. But, unless you are a geologist, you may not care exactly what minerals make up the lapis. You’ll care more about its beautiful blue and flecks of gold.

The finest color is intense blue, lightly dusted with small flecks of golden pyrite. Stones with no white calcite veins and only small pyrite inclusions are more prized. Patches of pyrite are an important help in identifying the stone as genuine and do not detract from its value. Often, inferior lapis is dyed to improve its color, producing a very dark blue with a noticeable grey cast which may also appear as a milky shade. So, the gold in lapis is not real gold, it is pyrite. But, it adds to the beauty of the stone.

Lapis takes an excellent polish and can be made into jewelry, carvings, boxes, mosaics, ornaments, and vases. In architecture it has been used for cladding the walls and columns of palaces and churches. It was also ground and processed to make the pigment ultramarine for tempera paint and, more rarely, oil paint. Its usage as a pigment in oil paint ended in the early 19th century when a chemically identical synthetic variety, often called French ultramarine, became available.

The best lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan, where the Sar-e-Sang mine deposits have been worked for more than 6,000 years. Afghanistan was the source of lapis for the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greek and Roman. During the height of the Indus valley civilization about 2000 BC, the Harappan colony now known as Shortugai was established near the lapis mines. In addition to the Afghan deposits, lapis has been extracted for many years in the Andes (near Ovalle, Chile), the Lake Baikal region of Russia; Siberia; Angola; Burma; Pakistan; Canada; India; and in the USA in California and Colorado.

Nowadays, lapis is often used and can be recognized as the beautiful blue stone in many modern pieces of jewelry. After 6,000 years, it has proven its worthiness and can contribute to any fashionable ensemble.