Dioptase was used to highlight the edges of the eyes on the three Pre-Pottery Neolithic B lime plaster statues discovered at 'Ain Ghazal, known as Micah, Heifa and Noah.

[4] Late in the 18th century, copper miners at the Altyn-Tyube (Altyn-Tube) mine, Karagandy Province, Kazakhstan[3] thought they had found the emerald deposit of their dreams.

They found fantastic cavities in quartz veins in a limestone rock, filled with thousands of lustrous transparent emerald-green crystals.

René Just Haüy determined that the enigmatic Altyn-Tyube mineral was new to science and named it dioptase (Greek, dia, "through" and optos, "visible"), alluding to the internal cleavage planes that can be seen inside unbroken crystals.

The oxidation of copper sulfides should be insufficient to crystallize dioptase, as silica is normally minutely soluble in water except at highly alkaline pH.

However, in dry climates and with enough time, especially in areas of a mineral deposit where acids are buffered by carbonate, minute quantities of silica may react with dissolved copper forming dioptase and chrysocolla.

A notable occurrence is the old Mammoth-Saint Anthony Mine near Mammoth, Arizona where small crystals that make fine micromount specimens are found.

[6] Dioptase dust is toxic due to its copper content and accidental ingestion can lead to serious health problems.

[8] Dioptase is a cyclosilicate mineral consisting of Si6O18 rings which are linked together by Jahn–Teller distorted octahedral d9 Cu(II) ions.