Shungite is technically not a crystal but a mineraloid (like amber, opal, or obsidian), due to its structure. But that doesn’t make it any less powerful! Used for centuries, shungite has long been considered a stone for healing, with Peter the Great of Russia using it in his spa to purify water1. Northwest Russia is actually where the largest and oldest source of shungite lies, with other deposits reported in Austria, India, Kazakhstan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

Shungite Properties: The Benefits Of This Purifying Stone | mindbodygreen

The stone has a unique composition. It contains fullerenes, or 3-D spherical molecules made of 60 carbon atoms. These molecules are hollow and sometimes called buckyballs.

Along with fullerenes, shungite consists of nearly all the minerals on the periodic table.

The origin of shungite is a mystery. Typically, materials made of carbon come from decayed organic substances like old forests. But the stone is thought to be at least 2 billion years old. This is before organic life existed on the planet.

Some theories of shungite’s origins include:

a large meteorite collided into Earth and deposited shungite into the ground

shungite formed due to microorganisms in nearby water

the composition of organic matter in sedimentary rocks changed over time

Although scientists are unsure of how shungite was formed or where it came from, they attribute the stone’s potential benefits to its fullerene content.