History of Ancient Jewelry

February 4th, 2010

Since the beginning of time, humans have made use of creating ornamental jewelry for their personal adornment. In fact recently, there have been located Nassaruis shell beads, that date back as far as one hundred thousand years.

That is a very long time when you consider the manufacturing of functional and decorative jewelry. However, historically many jewelry items were first created as a means of fastening ones clothing, the display of wealth and status in society as well as for creating storage units for coins and other trinkets in jewelry boxes.

Antique Style Carved Gemset Ring

With a bit of research, you will find that various cultures have their own cherished wealthy possessions of precious metals and gemstones.

Long ago, wedding dowries included such treasures as the family jewels for a daughter about to be married.

The Early Age of Jewelry

The Cro-Magnons were some of the first jewelry makers, approximately 40,000 years ago. The graves of Cro-Magnons, were commonly found with jewelry made from anything from mother-of-pearl, to stones, bones, teeth and mammoth tusks.

Bracelets and necklaces were strung onto pieces of string or animal sinew. They held their clothing together with carved bones.

Around 7,000 years ago, copper appeared on the scene of jewelry making.

Some of the most well-known jewelry makers were the ancient Egyptians, who began incorporating gold into their jewelry, which was one of their most favorite metals to work with, approximately 3,000 to 5,000 years ago.

Although, the ancient Egyptians had an abundance of precious gemstones to work with, they often preferred to use colorful pieces of glass in their jewelry. They had some very impressive formulas for creating the desired color glass, since various colors were important and significant for fashionable jewelry of that time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your request should have atleast 1 of the following parameters: 'Keywords','Title','Power','BrowseNode','Artist','Author','Actor','Director','AudienceRating','Manufacturer','MusicLabel','Composer','Publisher','Brand','Conductor','Orchestra','TextStream','Cuisine','City','Neighborhood'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For example: the color red symbolized the need of Isis for blood, while green represented new growth and fertility in crops.

Most often Egyptian jewelry workshops were attached to their temples and palaces.

Ancient Greece was the birthplace of several types of fashion jewelry worn today, such as the cameos fashioned by Greek jewelry makers.

Most often ancient Greek women wore jewelry for commemorating the special occasions of their lives as well as for any appearances in public.

They were especially fond of precious metals, such as gold, silver and bronze, while they enjoyed the stunning appearance of pearls, emeralds and amethyst as well as other interesting gemstones.

Jewelry then was most often given as gifts, while showing off their social status of wealth as well as for the beauty. Later they incorporated the use of clay and ivory into their jewelry ensembles.

Most often their jewelry held special religious symbols, while other styles offered the comfort of lending the owner mystic powers and protection.

Meanwhile, the ancient Romans added their own special flair of creative artistry into jewelry making styles, such as the ever popular brooch. However, their pinning creation was born of the need for securely fastening their clothing.

The ancient Romans were very fond of imported goods and made beautiful use of such gemstones as diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and amber.

Although the majority of Roman men wore one ring upon a finger, however, there were some who wore more, their women usually wore many more pieces of jewelry than the men did.

Rings of that time were often carved of beautiful gemstones, and utilized for sealing documents with an engraved wax seal, as was customary during the middle ages by kings and noblemen alike.

Considering that our ancient ancestors had a lot to do with the constantly evolving world of jewelry making, we owe them a great debt of thankfulness, for their inspirational means of fashioning functional and ornamental jewelry styles of various gold and stunning gemstones.



Start Your Jewelry Appraisal Now!




Invitation:

Thanks for your visit, but after all the hard work (unpaid) we put into this site - if nothing else - we would certainly appreciate your comments on this article.

Go On - Be Lazy - Click here to use the form below...

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Others Also Liked This Premium Jewelry Information...

Jewelry hallmarks

Professional jewelry appraisals completed by gemologists and valuers often have to take into account the effect the jewelry hallmarks have on the value of each item being appraised. Do they alter the price, up or down, depending on the hallmark. The simple answer is yes – and no. It depends on the hallmarks themselves and where they come from.

I get similar questions on forums and ‘expert’ websites, together with my own members discussion group. They are usually in the following format, and in general the same questions get asked over and over again. They go… Continue reading Jewelry Hallmarks And What They Mean...

Most people when they imagine a pearl are picturing perfect large round spherical gems, creamy white in colour with a shimmery iridescent surface. The reality is that pearls are usually irregular in shape, each one is different and to find one that is completely round is almost unheard of, not to mention trying to make a whole necklace of pearls that are all more or less the same. Natural pearls are the rarest and most highly valued variety, but nowadays most pearl jewellery is made from cultured or farmed pearls, which are grown on pearl farms… Continue reading What are the Main Differences Between Freshwater and Saltwater Pearls?...

Name jewelry is one of the trendiest types of fashion accessory for both men and women. A large part of this modern upswing in popularity is due to the hip hop culture where large name jewelry items have become the defining fashion in bling. While much of the current fashion is large, bling-style pieces, name jewelry can range from delicate and subtle to big and bold. But name jewelry is also very popular as traditional mothers jewelry. Name rings and name necklaces are by far the most popular items with online stores and retailers… Continue reading Name Jewelry Trends...

Leave your own comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Security Code: