Movable Egyptian ring in green jasper and gold, from 664 to 322 BC or later (Late Period),[5] theWalters Art MuseumAmulet of scarlet jasper, provenance unknown,Royal Pump Room, HarrogateLow-relief sphinx pendant, red jasper, pearl and enamel, French, circa 1870
The name means "spotted or speckled stone," and is derived viaOld Frenchjaspre (variant ofAnglo-Normanjaspe) andLatiniaspidem (nom.iaspis) fromGreekἴασπιςiaspis (feminine noun),[6] from anAfroasiatic language (cf.Hebrewישפהyashpeh,Akkadianyashupu).[7] This Semitic etymology is believed to be unrelated to that of the English given nameJasper, which is ofPersian origin,[8][a] though the Persian word for the mineral jasper is alsoyashum (یَشم).
Green jasper was used to makebow drills inMehrgarh between 4th and5th millennium BC.[9] Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world; its name can be traced back inArabic, Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek andLatin.[10] OnMinoanCrete, jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800 BC, as evidenced by archaeological recoveries at the palace ofKnossos.[11]
Although the term jasper is now restricted to opaque quartz, the ancientiaspis was a stone of considerable translucency includingnephrite.[2] The jasper of antiquity was in many cases distinctly green, for in ancient documents it is often compared toemerald and other green objects. Jasper is referred to in theNibelungenlied as being clear and green. The jasper of the ancients probably included stones which would now be classed aschalcedony, and the emerald-like jasper may have been akin to the modernchrysoprase. The Hebrew word may have designated a green jasper.[12]Flinders Petrie suggested that theodem – the first stone on theHigh Priest's breastplate – was a red jasper, whilsttarshish, the tenth stone, may have been a yellow jasper.[13]
Jewel-set vase carved from red-and-yellow jasper. Probable provenance: German, early 17th century,Waddesdon Bequest,British MuseumGoat-headed basket carved from red jasper. Russian, late 19th century,Kremlin Armoury
Jasper is anopaque rock of virtually any colour stemming from the mineral content of the original sediments or ash. Patterns arise during the consolidation process forming flow and depositional patterns in the original silica-richsediment orvolcanic ash.Hydrothermal circulation is generally thought to be required in the formation of jasper.[14]
Jasper can be modified by the diffusion of minerals along discontinuities providing the appearance of vegetative growth, i.e.,dendritic. The original materials are often fractured and/or distorted, after deposition, into diverse patterns, which are later filled in with other colorful minerals. Weathering, with time, will create intensely colored superficial rinds.
The classification and naming of jasper varieties presents a challenge.[15] Terms attributed to various well-defined materials includes the geographic locality where it is found, sometimes quite restricted such as "Bruneau" (a canyon) and "Lahontan" (a lake), rivers and even individual mountains; many are fanciful, such as "forest fire" or "rainbow", while others are descriptive, such as "autumn" or "porcelain". A few are designated by the place of origin such as a brown Egyptian or red African.
Jasper is the main component in the silica-rich parts ofbanded iron formations (BIFs) which indicate low, but present, amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water such as during theGreat Oxidation Event orSnowball Earth.[16] The red bands are microcrystalline red chert, also called jasper.
Earrings of polished "leopard-spot jasper" (actually a type of spheruliticrhyolite)
Picture jaspers exhibit combinations of patterns resulting in what appear to be scenes or images, when seen on a cut section. Such patterns include banding from flow or depositional patterns (from water or wind), as well as dendritic or color variations. Diffusion from a center produces a distinctiveorbicular appearance, i.e., leopard skin jasper or linear banding from a fracture as seen inliesegang jasper. Healed, fragmented rock producesbrecciated (broken) jasper.
While these "picture jaspers" occur all over the world, specific colors or patterns are unique to the geographic region from which they originate. One source of the stone isIndonesia, especially inPurbalingga district. From the US,Oregon'sBiggs jasper andIdaho'sBruneau jasper from theBruneau River canyon are particularly fine examples. Other examples can be seen atYnys Llanddwyn inWales.[17] A blue-green jasper occurs in a deposit at Ettutkan Mountain,Staryi Sibay,Bashkortostan, Russia. (The town of Sibay, in the far south of theUral Mountains, near the border withKazakhstan, is noted for its colossal, open-castcopper mine.)[18]
Basanite is a deep velvety-black variety of amorphous quartz, of a slightly tougher and finer grain than jasper, and less splintery than hornstone. It was theLydian stone ortouchstone of the ancients. It is mentioned and its use described in the writings ofBacchylides about 450 BC, and was also described byTheophrastus in his bookOn Stones (Ancient Greek title:Περὶ λίθων:Peri Lithon), a century later. It is evident that the touchstone thatPliny had in mind when he wrote about it was merely a dense variety ofbasalt.[19]
Basanite (not to be confused withbassanite),Lydian stone, andradiolarite (a.k.a. lydite or flinty slate) are terms used to refer to several types of black, jasper-like rock (also includingtuffs,cherts andsiltstones)[20] which are dense, fine-grained and flinty / cherty in texture and found in a number of localities. The "Lydian Stone" known to theAncient Greeks is named for the ancient kingdom ofLydia in what is now westernTurkey. A similar rock type occurs inNew England. Such rock types have long been used for the making oftouchstones to test the purity ofprecious metalalloys, because they are hard enough to scratch such metals, which, if drawn (scraped) across them, show to advantage their metallicstreaks of various (diagnostic) colours, against the dark background.
There are two distinct materials known as basanite: one is a black variety of jasper, while the other is a black volcanic rock closely related to basalt. Furthermore, various fine-grained black stones have historically been utilised as touchstones. Given this overlap in nomenclature and physical appearance, there is significant potential for ambiguity within the fields of petrology and mineralogy.[21] There is an alkaline rich mafic igneous rock with the nameBasanite.
"Dalmatian jasper". According to Mindat, it is a trade name for a peralkaline rock consisting of dark spots embedded on a lighter matrix. Mindat classifies it as a subtype of Peralkaline alkali-feldspar-granite which in turn is a subtype ofalkali feldspar granite.[22] Polished pebble.
^"Jasper: The usual English form of the name assigned in Christian folklore to one ofthe three magi or 'wise men', who brought gifts to the infant Christ at his birth (Matthew 2:1). The name[Jasper] does not appear in the Bible, and is first found in medieval tradition. It seems to be ultimately of Persian origin, from a word meaning 'treasurer'. There is probably no connection with the English vocabulary wordjasper denoting a gemstone, which is ofSemitic origin." — Hanks, Hardcastle, & Hodges (2006)[8]
^Dietrich, R.V. (23 May 2005)."Jasper".cst.cmich.edu. GemRocks. Central Michigan University. Archived fromthe original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved16 October 2006.
^abOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Rudler, Frederick William (1911). "Jasper". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^Hastings's Dict. Bible. 1902, cited inEncyclopædia Britannica (1911).[12].
^"Jasper".Prehistoric Online. Retrieved10 June 2022.
^Gamma, Hans (ed.)."World of Jaspers".worldofjaspers.com (main). Archived fromthe original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved6 October 2010.
^Broecker, W.S. (1985).How to Build a Habitable Planet.
^"Basanite".Mindat.org. 15 October 2012. Retrieved24 March 2013.
^Mindat.org (2025).Dalmatian Stone. Mindat.org — The mineral and locality database. Hudson Institute of Mineralogy. Retrieved 2025‑12‑26, fromhttps://www.mindat.org/min-52766.html
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!["Dalmatian jasper". According to Mindat, it is a trade name for a peralkaline rock consisting of dark spots embedded on a lighter matrix. Mindat classifies it as a subtype of Peralkaline alkali-feldspar-granite which in turn is a subtype of alkali feldspar granite.[22] Polished pebble.](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aJasper_Dalmatian_(212237453).jpeg)
