Category Knowledge & Articles

Pounamu is far more than New Zealand “greenstone.” For Māori, objects carved from pounamu can become taonga—treasured possessions carrying ancestry, status, memory and mana across generations. From hei tiki pendants to chiefly mere and hei matau, the stone reveals a living relationship between geology, craftsmanship, whakapapa and cultural identity that cannot accurately be reduced to modern ideas of “jade energy.”

Nearly five thousand years ago, people in Mesopotamia carved agate, shell and other materials into small objects worn or carried as amulets. A remarkable Sumerian agate demon head shows that stones could participate in a sophisticated world of protection, supernatural danger and ritual practice. Yet ancient Mesopotamian magic was far more complex than the modern idea of a “protective crystal”: material, image, deity, inscription and ritual could all contribute to an object's meaning.

Long before aircraft, railways or modern gem markets, precious stones travelled astonishing distances. From Badakhshan lapis in Mesopotamia to Indian garnets in the Mediterranean world, archaeology reveals a sophisticated international gemstone trade stretching back thousands of years.

Emeralds reached Mughal India through expanding global trade and became some of the court's most admired gemstones. Certain examples were carved with flowers, Qur'anic verses, prayers and pious formulas and could be worn as talismans. Their history reveals an extraordinary meeting of Colombian geology, Islamic devotion, Mughal craftsmanship and early modern global commerce—while showing why historical gemstone belief must be distinguished from modern crystal healing.