Sar-i Sang (or Sar-e Sang) (lit. "stone summit" in Persian) is a settlement in the Kuran Wa Munjan District of

Badakhshan Province Badakhshan Province (Dari: بدخشان) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lower and Upper C ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, famous for its ancient

lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, ''lāžward'', lapis lazuli is ...

mines producing the world's finest lapis. It is located in the Koksha Valley.

Lapis lazuli mines

The Sar-i Sang

mine probably dates from

prehistoric times Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

. It consists of one old disused shaft and two new shafts. This was the main source of lapis lazuli in the ancient world, with lapis from here occurring in such famous archaeological discoveries as the Royal Treasure of Ur and the Tomb of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, (; ), was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of an ...

.Warwick Ball, 2008, 'The Monuments of Afghanistan: History, Archaeology and Architecture': 261, London.

References

* Warwick Ball, 2008, 'The Monuments of Afghanistan: History, Archaeology and Architecture': 261, I.B. TAURIS, London, . * Warwick Ball, 1982, 'Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan': Volume I: 1001. SAR-I SANG, Editions Recherche sur les civilisations, Paris,
Lapis lazuli mines at Sar-e Sang, Afghanistan
at

Mindat.org Mindat.org is a non-commercial interactive online database covering minerals around the world. Originally created by Jolyon Ralph as a private project in 1993, it was launched as a community-editable website in October 2000. it is operated by ...

* Sarah Stone, 'LAPIS LAZULI in pursuit of a celestial stone', EAST and WEST PUBLISHING LTD, London, 2010,

External links

Satellite map at Maplandia.com

{{Authority control Populated places in Badakhshan Province Geological type localities

Lapis lazuli mines

See also

References

External links