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Obsidian
Origins
Obsidian is a semi-precious stone born of volcanoes. It was created hundreds of thousands of years ago, when acidic lava suddenly cooled and vitrified from the thermal shock.
It comes in various colorings: black, gray, blue-gray, brown and red. It takes on different shadings according to its composition, cooling time and impurities.
Obsidian is a rare stone. In fact not all volcanoes produce it. And when they do, the stone is not always of sufficiently good quality for cutting. In particular, if too many microfissures or microcrystals are present, it will simply shatter when cut. The biggest deposits are in
Armenia
,
Ethiopia
and
South America.
The obsidian from
Armenia
is highly consistent and renowned for its beauty and cuttability. And it is the only obsidian in the world that is translucent.
Several Armenian sites are mined. The most recent date from the Middle Pleistocene (700,000 to 100,000 years ago) while the oldest go back to the Pliocene (4 to 2 million years). Thus the cub-ar obsidian collection contains stones typically 2 million years old!
The history of obsidian is the history of mankind. First used in the remote past for everyday objects, it slowly became a luxury, prized for its black brilliance, its rarity and its beneficial powers.
Obsidian from
Armenia
originates on the slopes of the same
Mount Ararat
where Genesis tells us Noah's ark came to rest. "By the end of fifty days the waters had receded and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark grounded on a mountain in Ararat." (Genesis 8:5).
The very beginning
Obsidian has been used since prehistoric times. Hard and sharp, it was ideal for making ordinary implements like knives, arrowheads, spear tips and scrapers.
During the Stone Age, obsidian was preferred to flint wherever deposits could be found. In
Armenia
its use dates from the end of the Paleolithic up until the Bronze Age (14,000 to 3,500. BCE).
In the Bronze Age metal gradually replaced stone for making tools. Obsidian was used less and less, then forgotten.
Stone of luxury
The Egyptians at the time of the Pharaohs started to make use of obsidian for its preciousness, beauty and mystery.
New York
's
Metropolitan
Museum
has on exhibit several gold-rimmed vases and pots of obsidian from El Lahun, Egypt, dating from the 12th to the 16th dynasty (1991 to 1293 BCE). Obsidian's density and lustre give it a mysterious, impenetrable quality. The Egyptians also liked to use it for the eyes of statues. The most famous instance is undoubtedly the eyes in the funeral mask of the Pharaoh Tutanhkamen (1323 BCE). It was ancient Rome (from about 753 BCE to 500 CE) which returned obsidian to fashion in the West, when a certain Obsius brought some back from Ethiopia and gave it its name. Herodotus (484-425 BCE) preferred to call it "
Ethiopia
stone".
From that time on its beautiful black color and shine, added to its rarity, made obsidian a stone of luxury, used for making ornaments and precious objects such as vases, mirrors and lotion jars, or else simply for setting in jewelry.
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Its mystery
Beside its decorative use, obsidian is renowned for its beneficial energy. It was used as early as the pre-Columbian civilizations for making magical objects. This protective material is a powerful shield against negative energy and sharp enough to pierce the dark, revealing to all its own truth.
Thus the priests of ancient
Egypt
used obsidian blades in their embalming ceremonies to keep away evil influences
Lithotherapy
Today these beneficial qualities are made use of in lithotherapy (stone therapy) in which obsidian is one of the principal stones employed. It fends off negative energy, being a stone of earth-bound reality that summons truth and dispels illusion. Recommended for healing nervous depression, it wraps one up in its protective strength. Its blackness, which in the Orient signifies mental control, endows it with a measure of advanced consciousness.
It is particularly used for problems of blood circulation and strengthening the bones, as well as for stomach aches and digestive problems.
In astrological terms, obsidian is positive for all signs. It is especially favorable to Cancer, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius.
Working with obsidian
Blocks of obsidian shine on the slopes of Armenian mountains. Its variety and quality differ by site. Obsidian occurs somewhat as boulders do, in blocks rarely more than three feet across and weighing a hundred pounds or so. Obsidian is never shaped at the mine or quarry as are marble and some other rock. It cannot be turned into large architectural elements.
Good quality blocks are removed and worked on in the craftsman's workshop.
The first step involves identifying each one by type. The second is cutting it down to the size of the pieces planned. Then further cuts are made to get it closer to the final form. The equipment used is for the most part made by the craftsmen themselves.
Then the object is produced, with grinding tools of all shapes suited to the purpose: wheels, scoops, plates and so on. The grinding is begun with a coarse grain to remove the excess quickly, followed by a succession of seven (!) grinds of increasing fineness. Each grind must be applied correctly to remove the previous traces, since a finer grind cannot correct gaps in a coarser one. The entire process is done by hand, with the human eye the only judge. Mastering the technique requires an apprenticeship of several years. Then comes the final and most delicate step: polishing, which, to give the obsidian that lacquered look, is quite time-consuming and can reveal horribly the slightest defect. The production of each object will take between a few hours and several days.
More and more one finds that a stone object has been varnished, to mask poor polishing. But in
Armenia
this technique is not used; the work is done right the first time. The Armenians are in fact renowned for their lapidaries (workers who cut precious stones) and several of the world's leading firms have established diamond-cutting workshops within its borders.
Though there are today machines enabling many operations to be completely automated, the expert is not fooled, and the quality of Armenian craftsmanship remains unequalled.
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