The History of Jewelry - From the Beginning of Time to the Present

Summarian Necklace - One of the first representations of jewelry in ancient times.

The history of jewelry begins with appearance of the early humans. Since then people have exhibited the desire to adorn themselves irrespective of religion race or culture.

Jewelry has always been a form of personal expression and a status symbol. While the jewelry making tools and jewelry making supplies used to manufacture jewelry have evolved, there are many similarities with the very first examples of jewelry worn some 90,000 years

The ascent of the use of jewelry began when early humans stopped their nomadic life and settled to form farming communities. This correlates with the recognition of the value of mineral deposits, which were mined to get the jewelry making metals used in jewelry making.

During the early time of the history of jewelry, bead necklaces were constructed from shells and were strung together with twine. They represented charms with symbolic meanings or talismans that had a spiritual purpose. Most of the jewelry had a religious or spiritual significance and it was not until latter that the wealthy classes began to wear jewelry for decorative purposes. With time craftsman started to create more complex forms of body jewelry that were meant to adorn different parts of the body.

In the year 2500 BC among the Sumerians, Queen Pu-Abi was buried with beautiful jewelry made with gold, and beaded with silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate and chalcedony beads. Her remains along with the ornaments are one of the first archeological discoveries (in what is now known as Iran) that help set the date of the existence of jewelry. The mummy of Queen Pu-Abi was richly adorned with amulets, necklaces encrusted with precious stones in the shape of flowers, earrings and rings.

Archeologists discovered that by this time that jewelry tools and technical processes used to produce jewelry supplies existed. Geometric shapes and animal and vegetable representations were widely used.

To learn more about the history of jewelry read about ancient Egypt jewelry