History Of Ancient Love For Sparkling Jewelry

My love for jewelry has always made me curious about the history of these adornments. Nowadays, the jewelry market has expanded to a dynamic circle including specialized designers, goldsmiths, handmade jewelry makers and gemstone experts. The variety for buying the ornamental jewels is limitless both in terms of materials and designs. It’s a really interesting thought that who really started this trend in the first place, because as long as I know jewelry has always been in vogue never getting out of fashion. As we go back to the earlier signs of life on earth, cave people come to our minds instantly. It is fascinating to know about their lifestyle which was very organic and natural. It is said that the first jewelry piece was found in one of the caves of African continent which was made of shells thousands of years ago. Isn’t this a fascinating discovery! I mean thousands of years ago when people used to live in caves, depended on hunting for their food and used natural coverings like leaves and animal skins; someone thought of adorning themselves with a piece of seashell jewelry.

I mean that is really creative! It was discovered that Egyptians were the first to establish decorative ornaments for their adornment. The Egyptian era looks like a fantasy tale looking at the pyramids, mummies and sphinx in Cairo. The power of kings was immense which was shown through luxuries gold adornments worn by these kings. Well it is interesting to know that jewelry gathered so much importance in Egyptian era that it was worn by wealthy men even after their death. Egyptians proved to be very creative by adding glass and precious gems to their shiny adornments. The Egyptian necklace and headdress worn by Nefertiti is a classical example of the importance of these jewels in the ancient Egyptian times. If we look at the Mesopotamia history, we open our eyes to extremely creative pieces of classy jewelry. They were quite some designers! They used gold, silver and gemstones in their pieces but the designs are what marvel me the most. Their crowns were designed with engravings of shapes of animals, fruits and leaves.

Such stylized designs are even unique in today’s world! They used to make amulets, collar necklaces, ankle bracelets, jewel-headed pins and cylinder seals. Most of the modern designers take their inspirations from the heavy ornamental styles of Mesopotamian age for their creativity and uniqueness. Looking at some pieces of Greek jewelry, one develops a desire to grab some of their extremely beautiful designs. The spiraled gold earrings from 16th century BC are so well designed that they beat today’s designers easily. It is said that Greeks were masters in making colored ornaments using gemstones and glass. Other materials included gold, ivory, clay and bronze. There jewelry was simpler in design than Egyptians and Mesopotamians and it was not used in day to day routine although they used to wear Evil Eye for protection from super natural powers. Most of their pieces were dedicated to their Gods.