Lapis lazuli mining and trade from Badakhshan
Minería y comercio del lapislázuli de Badakhshan
- Date
- c. 4000 BCE (cuentas desde c. 7000 BCE) · confidence low
- Place
- Sar-e-Sang, Kokcha valley, Badakhshan, Afghanistan
- Credited to
- Hindu Kush peoples and traders of the Mehrgarh, Sarazm and Mesopotamian cultures
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
The Sar-e-Sang mines were virtually the only historical source of high-quality lapis lazuli in the ancient world, which travelled from there to Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus along routes foreshadowing the Silk Road. Ground lapis would later yield the ultramarine pigment.
Lapis beads occur at Mehrgarh (Pakistan) in the 7th millennium BC and probably come from Badakhshan, but it is not certain since when these particular mines were exploited; the date is an order of magnitude.
What it led to
- one of the first long-distance trade networks in semi-precious stones, from the Indus to the Nile
- jewellery in the Royal Tombs of Ur and the grave goods of Tutankhamun
- the ultramarine pigment, already used in the Bamiyan murals and later in European painting