Editing Opal (section)

=== Ethiopia ===
[[File:Amazing Play of Color - Opal from GemSelect..webm|thumb|right|Opal from Ethiopia]]

It has been reported that Northern African opal was used to make tools as early as 4000 BC.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}} The first published report of gem opal from [[Ethiopia]] appeared in 1994, with the discovery of precious opal in the Menz Gishe District, North Shewa Province.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Barot |first=N. |date=1994 |title=New precious opal deposit found in Ethiopia |journal=ICA Gazette }}</ref> The opal, found mostly in the form of nodules, was of volcanic origin and was found predominantly within weathered layers of [[rhyolite]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Opal from Shewa Province, Ethiopia |journal=Gems & Gemology |date=Summer 1996 |last1=Johnson |first1=Mary L. |last2=Kammerling |first2=Robert C. |last3=DeGhionno |first3=Dino G. |last4=Koivula |first4=John I. |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=112–120 |df=dmy-all |doi=10.5741/GEMS.32.2.112 |doi-access=free }}</ref> This Shewa Province opal was mostly dark brown in color and had a tendency to crack. These qualities made it unpopular in the gem trade. In 2008, a new opal deposit was found approximately 180&nbsp;km north of Shewa Province, near the town of [[Wegeltena]], in Ethiopia's [[Wollo Province]]. The Wollo Province opal was different from the previous Ethiopian opal finds in that it more closely resembled the sedimentary opals of Australia and Brazil, with a light background and often vivid play-of-color.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rondeau |first=Benjamin |date=Summer 2010 |title=Play-of-color from Wegeltena, Wollo Province, Ethiopia |journal=Gems & Gemology |doi=10.5741/GEMS.46.2.90 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Wollo Province opal, more commonly referred to as "Welo" or "Wello" opal, has become the dominant Ethiopian opal in the gem trade.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gashaw |first=Yidneka |date=8 April 2012 |title=Opal Trade Transforms North Wollo |url=http://addisfortune.com/Vol_12_No_623_Archive/agenda.htm |journal=Addis Fortune |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924044930/http://addisfortune.com/Vol_12_No_623_Archive/agenda.htm |archive-date=24 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>[[File:Jupiter 20 Opal and Diamond Pendant.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Gem grade Ethiopian Welo precious opal pendant]]