![]() Flinders Petrie suggested that the odem, the first stone on the High Priest's breastplate, was a red jasper, whilst tarshish, the tenth stone, may have been a yellow jasper. The Hebrew word may have designated a green jasper. The jasper of the ancients probably included stones which would now be classed as chalcedony, and the emerald-like jasper may have been akin to the modern chrysoprase. Jasper is referred to in the Nibelungenlied as being clear and green. The jasper of antiquity was in many cases distinctly green, for it is often compared to emerald and other green objects. ![]() Īlthough the term jasper is now restricted to opaque quartz, the ancient iaspis was a stone of considerable translucency including nephrite. On Minoan Crete, jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800 BC, as evidenced by archaeological recoveries at the palace of Knossos. Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world its name can be traced back in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and Latin. Green jasper was used to make bow drills in Mehrgarh between 4th and 5th millennium BC. This Semitic etymology is believed to be unrelated to that of the English given name Jasper, which is of Persian origin, though the Persian word for the mineral jasper is also yashp ( یَشم). iaspis) from Greek ἴασπις iaspis (feminine noun), from an Afroasiatic language (cf. The name means "spotted or speckled stone," and is derived via Old French jaspre (variant of Anglo-Norman jaspe) and Latin iaspidem (nom. Jaspillite is a banded-iron-formation rock that often has distinctive bands of jasper.Įtymology and history Movable Egyptian ring in green jasper and gold, from 664 to 322 BC or later (Late Period), the Walters Art Museum Amulet of scarlet jasper, provenance unknown, Royal Pump Room, Harrogate Low-relief sphinx pendant, red jasper, pearl and enamel, French, circa 1870 The specific gravity of jasper is typically 2.5 to 2.9. It can be highly polished and is used for items such as vases, seals, and snuff boxes. Jasper breaks with a smooth surface and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. The common red color is due to iron(III) inclusions. Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color and rarely blue. Most commonly red, but may be yellow, brown, green or (rarely) blue Ocean Jasper from Madagascar is one of the best known and most frequently encountered orbicular jaspers.Jasper outcrop, Bucegi Mountains, Romania Orbicular Jasper - Used to describe jasper with rounded concentric rings throughout. These patterns maybe formed in a variety of ways, such as from depositional patterns, dendrites forming microscopic cracks in the rock or color variations. Picture Jaspers - Used to describe jasper with natural, scenic/picture like formations in it. Moss Jaspers - Used to describe jaspers that have moss like patterns in them due to manganese dendrites growing in microscopic cracks within the stone. These pieces were reburied and solidified into a solid stone again, typically with chalcedony filling the cracks within the fragments. ![]() Brecciated Jaspers - Use to describe jaspers that were broken apart into sharp, angular fragments, typically due to erosions. ![]() Bloodstone or Heliotrope - Used to describe a dark green variety of jasper with red spots. Banded Iron Formations - Red jaspers, colored by iron oxide inclusions are a main component in many banded iron formations such as Tiger Iron or Marra Mamba Tiger's Eye. ![]() Below are some more general varieties that are commonly encountered. Some names are commonly accepted by collection and dealers while others are made up to describe a specific locality or appearance of the jasper. Jasper has an over-abundance of names used to describe different types. ![]()
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