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Gems Through the Ages

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Gems and Gemmology

Part of the book series: Short Introductions to Cultural Heritage Science ((SICHS))

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  • The original version of this chapter was revised: New figures are updated with new captions and few figures are updated without changing their captions. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35449-7_6

Abstract

Since thousands of years, gems were used as tools and amulets often associated with social status and money. At the beginning, gems were used in their rough form, or polished with curved surfaces or engraved. Simple forms of faceting appeared around the start of thirteenth century and it radically improved after the industrial revolution. During different periods in time, different cultures were considering different materials as gems. A problem that researchers frequently face whilst studying gems of archaeological importance is the nomenclature used in the old text and the current gemmological literature (e.g., peridot can be found in old texts are chrysolite or topazios). Pearl, diamond, “jade”, corundum (principally ruby and sapphire), beryl (mainly emerald), garnet, spinel, different forms of silica (e.g., amethyst, chalcedony, opal), lapis lazuli, turquoise, amber, coral, ivory as well as tourmaline, peridot, topaz, chrysoberyl and zircon are the main gems appreciated during the past till nowadays.

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Change history

  • 08 December 2021

    The original version of the book was revised to replace a number of figures as follows.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Français de Gemmologie (LFG), Paris, France

    Stefanos Karampelas

  2. Gubelin Gem Lab, Lucerne, Switzerland

    Lore Kiefert

  3. Department of Mathematical, Physical and Computer Sciences, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

    Danilo Bersani

  4. Department of Archaeology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Peter Vandenabeele

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  1. Stefanos Karampelas
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  2. Lore Kiefert
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  4. Peter Vandenabeele
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Karampelas, S., Kiefert, L., Bersani, D., Vandenabeele, P. (2020). Gems Through the Ages. In: Gems and Gemmology. Short Introductions to Cultural Heritage Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35449-7_2

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