silicates
Amazonite
K(AlSi3O8)
- Also known as
- amazonstone
- Crystal system
- triclinic
- Hardness
- 6–6.5 on the Mohs scale
- Lustre
- vitreous
- Colour
- Blue-green to green, often with white streaking
- Where it forms
- In granite pegmatites, particularly those enriched in lead and rubidium.
- Chiefly from
- Pikes Peak, Colorado, United StatesKola Peninsula, RussiaMadagascarEthiopia
Why it is that colour
Lead, in trace amounts, combined with water in the structure and activated by natural radiation. For a long time the colour was wrongly attributed to copper.
Safety
The lead is bound in the crystal structure at trace levels and is not released by handling. As with any stone, do not soak it and drink the water.
Where it comes from
Colorado and the Kola Peninsula supply the best material. Ethiopian production has grown considerably since around 2010.
Historical use
Used in Egypt from at least the Predynastic period, for beads, amulets and inlay. A portion of the Book of the Dead is inscribed on an amazonite tablet, and Tutankhamun’s burial included amazonite pieces.
Recorded as history and attributed where possible. That a stone was used for something establishes that people used it, not that it worked.
What is attributed to it, and since when
Named after the Amazon river by mistake — the stone does not occur there, and the green material in early European collections attributed to the region was probably jade or another green stone entirely. Egyptian use is genuine and well documented. The specific modern meanings are recent.
Described, not endorsed. Dating a claim is not the same as assessing it — but an association that first appears in a book published in 1985 is not an ancient inheritance, whatever the label says. A sincere account of feeling better is compatible with the stone doing nothing — see the placebo effect.
Worth knowing
The colour puzzle took over a century to settle. Amazonite was assumed to be coloured by copper, because green usually means copper. It is not: the colour comes from lead, present at a few hundred parts per million, in combination with structural water and natural irradiation. Heat it and the colour goes; irradiate it again and it comes back.
The name is a straightforward error that stuck. Green stones brought back from South America in the eighteenth century were assumed to be this material and were named after the river. Amazonite is not found in the Amazon basin.
Identity checked against IMA-CNMNC master list, June 2025.