jasper, like its close cousin, agate, can be found in a mad array of colors and patterns: from red, orange, yellow, green, and tan, to black and white — all sometimes in the same piece. There are stripes, circles, scenery, and frondlike dendrites. Gemstone savvy readers will know that jasper is the name for all the opaque varieties of chalcedony, or microcrystalline quartz. Agate and jasper can also occur together, with both translucent and opaque material in the same deposit.
ANCIENT USES
The stones of the quartz family have been vital to humans since earliest prehistory. Archaeologists believe our humanoid ancestors wore and carried pieces of jasper as far back as 75,000 years ago.
More recently, green jasper bow drills used for starting fire have been found at the Mehrgarh…
