Jewelry in Ancient Kush
Women just love jewelry so much no matter what type of jewelry it may be. A jewelry in ancient kush is namely one of those. The article below can explain more about jewelries.
Lapis Lazuli – The Royal Blue Gemstone
Lapis lazuli or lapis as it is commonly known, has been used to make silver pendants and other jewelry, and ornaments for over five thousand years now. In fact, scholars believe that it is the oldest gemstone known to and used by man. Its intense and deep blue color has been associated with royalty through the ages. The royal Sumerian tombs in Iraq, and the tombs from the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens in Egypt contained numerous beautifully crafted objects. Archaeologists and gemologists who examined the lapis objects from the Sumerian tombs believe that the mineral was mined in northern Afghanistan, an area that continues to produce some of the best quality lapis today. Ancient Egyptians also revered this stone for centuries. In addition for making carvings and seal, they used thin laminations of lapis to create some beautiful inlay work. The world famous funereal mask of King Tutankhamen contains delicate inlays of lapis. Lapis was also ground into a fine powder and used as a cosmetic, and to prepare dyes that were used for papyrus paintings, and the beautiful art that adorns the walls of the royal tombs of Egypt. The origin of the word "lapis lazuli" is not precisely known. One school of thought proposes that it came from the Persian translation of blue stone, or "lazhward". A second school of thought also believes that the word comes from a version of ‘blue stone’, but from the Latin or Roman word of "sapphirus". This same school of thought also believes that ancient references to sapphires were actually meant to reference lapis.
For about five thousand years now, the best quality lapis is mined in the Hindu Kush mountain range in north-east Afghanistan. Mining here requires blasting of the bedrock of yield the lumps of blue rock. The terrain here is so inhospitable and rugged that mining must largely be done by hand, and transportation of the rock down the mountainsides is done by use of mule trains. The mountain passes in this region are high and impassable during the winter months. So production of lapis lazuli is limited to the summer months after the ice has melted. The Lake Baikal region of Russia, eastern Chile, southern Baffin Island in Canada, and San Bernardino County in California are other less significant lapis producing sites in the world today.
Lapis is a popular gemstone for fashion jewelry today. Lapis is rarely cut with facets, and most lapis beads are cut and polished with a smooth finish. Cutting this stone requires a fair bit of skill, and novice jewelers generally prefer to stay away from lapis. The color of lapis is so deep and intense that it is difficult to pair this stone with other precious and semi precious gems. In some rare instances, a white pearl necklace may be provided with a few lapis beads at the bottom. These beads are typically graduated and slightly larger than the pearls in the necklace, and form the pendant.
By: Geoguy
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Larry Williams is the author of this article. He is a geo professional in the Southwestern United States, and an avid gemologist and jewelry buff. His is a connoisseur of silver pendants and other silver jewelry from the Southwest and other parts of the world. His interests include pearl jewelry and cultured pearl necklaces in particular
For more information on jewelries, you can check the Web… Feel free to visit here if you want to learn about jewelry and its marks.
Less hard than most gemstones, Lapis Lazuli has also found use as coloring for cosmetics by the ancient Egyptians, later replicated as painting medium by some painters during the Renaissance [...]
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From Persia came inlay and fine jewelry and poetry. From Bactria they imported skilled doctors and medicine and lapis lazuli and Greek knowledge from yet further west. This was a wealthy land.
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