image: Mined in Afghanistan, lapis lazuli was traded overland to cities in the Levant and Egypt, from where it was shipped to Venice, the major port of entry into Europe. From its source in the Badakhshan mines of Afghanistan, the lapis lazuli analyzed in this study travelled more than 6,000 kilometers to reach its final destination at a small women's religious community in Dalheim, Germany. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the Jan. 9th, 2019, issue of Science Advances, published by AAAS. The paper, by A. Radini at University of York in York, UK, and colleagues was titled, "Medieval women's early involvement in manuscript production suggested by lapis lazuli identification in dental calculus." view more
Credit: Shelly O'Reilly