Lapis lazuli / ˈ l æ p ɪ s l ə ˈ z uː l iː / or / ˈ l æ ʒ uː l aɪ / (sometimes abbreviated to lapis ) is a deep blue semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Lapis lazuli was being mined in the Sar-i Sang mines [ 1 ] and in other mines in the Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan as early as the 7th millennium BC , [ 2 ] Lapis beads have been found at neolithic burials in Mehrgarh , the Caucasus , and even as far from Afghanistan as Mauritania . [ 3 ] It was used for the eyebrows on the funeral mask of King Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BC). [ 4 ] At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine , the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments. It was used by the most important artists of the Renaissance a...
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