Gems with Heart

The History of a Lovable Motif

- JIM BRACE-THOMPSON

Characterized by two curves meeting at a point at the bottom, the familiar heart shape is without a doubt the universal symbol of love. At gem shows, carved stone hearts line dealer tables and exhibit cases. Curious about the attraction to stones and jewelry shaped like hearts? Here's a rundown of how the stylized heart shape came to be ubiquitous as a pictogram of love.

NATURAL STONES SHAPED LIKE HEARTS

In pre-scientific times, Europeans occasionally found strange things weathering from the ground. These included fist-sized rocks looking more-or-less like hearts. In England, such rocky oddities were called Bulls' Hearts and were described in 1677 by Robert Plot, who referred to them as Bucardites referring to Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder (c. 77 C.E.), who described “Bucardia stones” from Babylon resembling the heart of an ox.

When viewed from the side, these look like hearts printed on Valentine’s Day cards, but they are fossilized remains of clams. Sand or silt filled the original shell after the critters inside had died and dissolved. When the shells, buried in sediment, also dissolved in acidic groundwater, solidified internal molds of sandstone or siltstone were left. Tap on hardened sediment and the molds fall out cleanly. Germans called them steinkerns, or stone kernels. Excavating a Bronze Age burial mound at Albourne in Wiltshire, England dated at between 3,300 and 1,200 B.C., archeologists found steinkerns placed alongside human remains. Such stones, apparently, were imbued with sufficient mystical power to be worthy of accompanying the dead into the afterlife.

The perfect gift for Valentine’s Day: a heart fashioned from February’s birthstone.

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE OR MINERAL?