Miller, the owner of Yax Tun Minerals, a dealer in Chiapas, Mexico, that specializes in Guatemalan jade, took a strand of blue-green beads from around his neck and held it to the light.

Yet the anonymous canine had evidently meant something to someone. It wore a collar made of jade beads and turquoise plugs in its ears. From its ankles dangled bracelets with little bells of pure ...

Jade processing was in full swing by the middle of the Jomon period. People made tools, beads, pendants and magatama (comma-shaped stones). Jade wasn’t just a material; it became a symbol of ...