Dominican Republic · Gemstone mining and lapidary craft
Larimar
The hand-mining and lapidary working of larimar, a rare blue pectolite found nowhere else on Earth outside the Los Chupaderos deposit in the Bahoruco mountains near Barahona, in the southern Dominican Republic. First formally noted by a Spanish priest in 1916 (whose mining request was denied) and rediscovered in 1974 by Dominican craftsman Miguel Méndez working with Peace Corps volunteer Norman Rilling, the stone is extracted largely by hand from narrow shafts reaching up to 300 feet deep before being cut and polished into jewelry — now considered, alongside amber, one of the Dominican Republic's two signature 'country-brand' gemstones.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not Applicable — no UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage inscription exists for this craft at time of writing
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