Callaïs
Precious stones used in ancient beadmaking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Callaïs are ancient green-blue precious stones used for making pendants and beads by western European cultures of the later Neolithic and early Bronze Age. "Callaïs" is a generic term that includes turquoise and variscite, but not jade.[1][2][3] It was described by Pliny the Elder as being paler than lapis lazuli.[4] Callaïs objects have been found in Neolithic tombs from the mid-5th millennium BC in the Carnac region of western France.[2][1]
Callaïs deposits are thought to have been widely distributed throughout the Iberian peninsula, and transported from Andalusia, Castile, and Catalonia to Brittany, Normandy, and the Paris Basin.[2]
