Golden bracelets with snakes at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens

History of Jewellery : From bones to gold and beyond

In pursuit of jewellery: 

In all honesty, the underlying foundations of adornments date back to 120,000 years ago! Ancient people were accessorising themselves with necklaces, utilizing shells as beads on a string. The most straightforward type of accessory was produced using natural resources out in nature. This shows us how assorted gems can be and to what extent it has adjusted. Shells, which were discovered right under human graves at the Qafzeh Cave (in Israel close to the Mediterranean Sea), were utilized for the interaction of necklace making. Various individual personalities can be found by the sort of shells that were utilized in the necklaces, showing the variety of necklaces people were able to wear.

Bar-Yosef Mayer, the collections manager for paleontology and archaeomalacology at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, said: “They could indicate the group identity of the person carrying it, their status in society, or they could reflect certain beliefs”. This means that jewellery had significantly more importance than just enrichment, it had a social value!

  The evolution of the jewellery: 

  Later, between 38.000-2.800BC, as indicated by the proof found in an archaeological region in France, the beads utilized in gems were made out of the bones and teeth of animals. This basic method of jewellery making had different meanings in various areas.

 

4.400BC- This is the era when a big population growth occurred, as well as the discovery of the main gold articles by the Thracian civilization.

 

5000BC - 30 BC – During this time began another period where we begin seeing the utilization of copper. Alluvial gold was utilized to produce gems by Badarians as well as copper use. In Southern Egypt, gold jewellery was quite common as well as lapis, and ivory. An assortment of gemstones was likewise utilized in this time bringing another look to jewellery. These gemstones included amethyst, carnelian, chalcedony, feldspar, and turquoise.

  New Aesthetics: Jewellery Gets Sophisticated

 2750BC - 1200BC-People in  Mesopotamia : The Cradle of Civilazations look at jewellery from an entirely different point of view, inspired by nature such as grapes, cones, and spirals. The jewellery pieces were made out of gemstones such as agate, carnelian, lapis, and jasper. Due to the immense wealth of the society at this time in Mesopotamia, jewellery use was vigorously acknowledged by the entire society and gems turned into a part of the day-to-day daily routine for individuals who lived there.

1400BC - 1200BC- Jewellery became a trade good, which heightened the advancement of jewellery making from one side of the planet to the other. Egypt was making a variety of jewellery that had yet to be seen around the world; a portion of these was produced using gold and copper with an assortment of gemstones accessible.

1300BC- The use of signet, which was used to represent signatures, became more common.

At a time when you consider that most individuals were unskilled in that time, you can see the significance of the signets! Plenty of Greek adornments was being made and it was heavily inspired by animals and shells. The vast majority of this jewellery had gemstones contained in them, including an enormous utilization of amethyst, chalcedony, pearls, garnet, emeralds, and cornelian. This is where further developed gems were emerging, with new procedures being presented.

  Change is Yet to Come

1200BC- Silver became a popular metal used in the process of making jewellery. Techniques such as moulding and engraving are introduced, which created a whole new level in the process.

 

Shine Bright Like a Diamond

800BC- Diamonds became an export product. Precious stones were at that point notable in India, yet the rest of the world was not lucky enough to have many.

 

700BC - 600BC- During this period, the Babylonian civilization which is famous for its hanging gardens were destroyed, and the usage of sapphires, as well as amber in jewellery making process, has begun by the Etruscans whilst the Greeks kept on utilizing emerald.

 

 A Break to The Progress: The Dark Ages

400BC-1000CE – 

In the Dark Ages, during which jewellery was rarely utilized except among nobility and royalty, the evolution of jewellery had come to a halt. The gems were normally used to symbolise the significance of an individual in society. 

Garnishing Affected by Religion

1096-1496

Religion has gained more power during the medieval ages and spread around the world whilst there was an increasing demand for hair and attire jewellery. These were created with emeralds, pearls, sapphires, and the like and were generally put on during religious ceremonies and had importance and meaning behind them. 

 1200- Gothic style jewellery became more popular and we see the earliest evidence of diamond cutting. The first cut that was used in history was the point cut. 

 

 Manifestation of The Wow for Life-Long Togetherness

1450- The table-cut jewel was presented and not much later, the main French-cut has emerged. During this period also, the first example of a long-lasting tradition was seen, an engagement ring was endowed to Mary of Burgundy by Emperor Maximilian I.

 The 1500s-1800s –Entering the Renaissance and Georgian era, more and more people started noticing and utilizing jewellery in all of Europe. It turned into a pattern that carried us to see the critical development in adornment use and prevalence across the entirety of Europe.

Rose-cut emerged as a new style of a diamond cut, and the Beau Sancy, a type of precious stone, was noticed for the first time. Moreover, France made its name for mining vapid zircons.

 The 1600s- At the same time with the construction of the Taj Mahal in India, the baroque style was gaining popularity in Europe being influential in all the areas. The baroque style was characterized by dramatic and sensational designs flaunting the item. 

 The 1800s-1900s – Jewellery tastes and style were influenced by the reign of Queen Victoria of England. The brooch was introduced and became a very popular piece of jewellery in the public eye. In this period jewel solitaries were additionally presented and the Screw-back earring for unpierced ears was made and acquainted with the general public.

 The 1900s- 1950s - The advanced strategies were being created in this era. A lot of new styles of jewellery were making appearances all over the globe and this assisted with making an immense assortment of adornments styles.

The various styles of making gems affected patterns of what individuals utilized in various areas. Ensemble adornments turned out to be more famous because of WWII and the subsequent bans on gemstones.

During this period, a notable event for the history of jewellery was the launch of the ‘A diamond is forever’ slogan by De Beers in 1948. As the war ended in the 

 The 1950s- 1990s the colourful jewellery made a return and there was a large increase in the usage of rhinestones and large beads. 

 

  Around 1997;  additional contemporary jewellery was made and sophisticated jewellery was showing up as opposed to a portion of the principal gems styles. At present, there is a tendency to utilise techniques that require many qualifications and hard work of the creator. Filigree, which is a unique technique that has roots in Ancient Mesopotamia, is the inspirer of Delondra.