A fine-grained variety of quartz with distinctive banded patterns, often used in jewelry and decorative objects.
From Latin achates, from Greek akhates, named after the Achates River in Sicily where the stone was first found. The word entered English through Old French in the 13th century.
This semi-precious stone gets its stunning banded appearance from repeated flooding of silica-rich water in rock cavities over millions of years, creating natural art that ancient civilizations prized for both beauty and supposed magical properties. Each agate is essentially a geological time capsule showing ancient environmental conditions.
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