Jewelry Dates Back to When???

If you have been surfing the web and looking for articles on "open heart jewelry", it is very possible that you have come across an article or two that we have written in the past. We regularly contribute to various blogs and forums, and try to offer our "points of view" on this subject to the public at large. If you haven't read any of our articles do not worry…you will probably come across one of our articles at one point or another…

We would like to take a "step back" in this article and write about the overall history of jewelry in general.  Jewelry as an art form has been around for thousands of years, and different cultures have used it in different ways. As we examine these pieces of jewelry we will gain insight into how these ancient cultures actually worked.

In Ancient Africa the homo sapiens provide us with the first signs of a culture using jewelry. Snail shell beads have been found at the Blombos Cave in South Africa that date back to over 75,000 years ago. At Enkapune Ya Moto in Kenya beads made from ostrich egg shells have been found that date back to over 40,000 years ago.

When we think of Egypt we think of the pyramids and the sphinx, right? What about jewelry? Well, it is here that we find the first signs of established jewelry making around 3,000 – 5,000 years ago. Egyptians made their jewelry out of the same materials that we make jewelry out of today. For example, gemstones, but they preferred to make their jewelry out of glass, which they could color to satisfy their particular tastes. This meant that for every gemstone that they could find in nature, they were able to manufacture a glass replication that could mimic it. Other cultures have used the template of Egyptian jewelry in their own jewelry making. Consider the Phoenicians for example, who copied many Egyptian designs.

We all love colored jewelry for it's beauty, but to the Ancient Egyptians it meant different things. Take for example the color red. The necklace of Isis that was to be placed on the neck of a mummy needed to be red in color. It was thought that this color would satisfy Isis's need for blood. On the other side of the coin, the color green was used to symbolize growth in crops and fertility. The Ancient Egyptians made their jewelry in large workshops that were often attached to their palaces and temples.

Jewelry development and production started to spring up in the cities of Sumer and Akkad (in Ancient Mesopotamia) around 4000 years ago. It tended to be made from metal leaf, and was often set in a large number of brightly colored stones, such as lapis, agate, carnelian, and jasper. Various shapes like leafs, grapes, cones and spirals were often utilized in their designs. Being masters of record keeping, the Ancient Mesopotamians have provided us with huge archives of detailed records detailing both the creation and trading of jewelry.

Did you enjoy our little departure from our regular heart jewelry articles? It's very interesting to see how the art form of jewelry making has developed over the history of man.