Hey everyone! We are deep into these national holidays, aren’t we? So, let’s keep it going! March 13th is National Jewel Day, and although we could talk diamonds again, I’d rather not! I want to get a little more colorful and dive into some of the more popular ones that we all know and love, especially since there are around 200 natural stones altogether.
Gemstones are broken up into precious and semi-precious stones, the precious stones are comprised of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds while the other stones fall into the semi-precious category. The oldest natural gemstone found was Zircon with an approximate age of 4.4 billion years, and the oldest extraterrestrial gemstone was a peridot with an approximate age of 4.6 billion years. How exciting is that? For all the August babies out there, you have an extraterrestrial gemstone representing your month! However, with gemstones dating back so far, let’s roll back and go over the first recorded usage of gemstones along with early gemstone mining.
What is now known as Afghanistan was home to the Hindy Kush region where people first started mining lapis lazuli during the Neolithic period, a deep blue opaque stone that most would associate with Egypt. If that’s what you thought too then you’re right! This stone was also used alongside amethyst in Egypt during 4000BC. Famously, King Tutankhamun’s mummy was adorned with gold necklaces, earrings and bracelets set with lapis lazuli, carnelian, and red jasper with his mask adorned with even more gems including obsidian and quartz.
Worldwide, gemstones have served decorative, practical, and spiritual purposes. In China, jade was mentioned in texts dating to around 3600BC as an important stone; the character for jade and emperor appears to be similar. Jade beads, weapons, and tools have been found in the country from prehistoric sites. In Ancient Greece, amethysts were thought to help the wearer stay sober while drinking, while in Rome pearls were the most popular stone. The Aztecs also used gemstones such as turquoise, obsidian, and mother of pearl, especially when it came to mask making. Mayans even affixed gemstones on their teeth, which may have been used in dental practices to prevent dental decay.
Today gemstones are mostly used as adornments, and they sure are pretty to look at. Here at Bruneau & Co. we have an array of jewelry available with many different gemstones so make sure to check out our catalog!
