How Has Heart Jewelry Developed Over The History of Man?

We have received so many wonderful responses on the articles regarding heart jewelry that we have written in the past. We thank you so much. Today we would like to write a more generic article regarding the history of jewelry in general. “Jewelry Making” as an art form has been around for thousands of years, and we see that different cultures have incorporated it in various ways. When we examine these pieces of jewelry we gain insight into how these various cultures worked…

The homo sapiens that lived in Africa provide us with the first sign of a culture using jewelry. They have found snail shell beads at Blombos Cave (situated in the side of a limestone cliff in South Africa) that date back to over 75,000 years ago. If we go to the other side of Africa, at Enkapune Ya Moto in Kenya, they have found beads made from ostrich egg shells 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.

Around 4000 years ago we see jewelry development and production starting to spring up in the cities of Sumer and Akkad in Ancient Mesopotamia. This jewelry tended to be made from metal leaf, and was often set in a large number of brightly-colored stones, such as lapis, jasper, agate, and carnelian. They also incorporated various shapes, such as grapes, leafs, cones and spirals into their designs. Since the Ancient Mesopotamians were also masters in the area of record keeping, huge archives of detailed records relating to the creation and trading of jewelry have been unearthed in various archaeological sites.

We hope you have enjoyed this little departure from our regular heart jewelry articles. It’s very interesting to see how this art form of jewelry making has developed over the years.

Looking to find the best deal on Heart Jewelry, then visit www.BeautifulHeartJewelry.com to find the best advice on jewelry perfect for you.

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