Victoria's Secrets: The History of Jewelry, Part 1

The history of jewelry goes back almost as far as the history of humanity itself. The first signs that have been found of people wearing jewelry come from Africa, where beads with holes have been found that date back 75,000 years in a cave in South Africa. In Kenya, beads made from ostrich eggshells have been date to more than 40,000 years ago.

Outside Africa, the Cro-Magnon peoples made crude necklaces and bracelets of bone, teeth, berries, and stone, which they strung on pieces of string or animal sinew. They also made buttons out of carved bone. Some jewelry included pieces of shells or mother-of-pearl. Carved bracelets made of mammoth tusks have been found in southern Russia. We first find indication of using metal in jewelry around 7,000 years ago, with copper.

In addition to the other giant leaps human civilization made in ancient Egypt, 3,000 to 5,000 years ago, jewelry design and manufacture first became a big part of human art and decor. The Egyptians preferred the luxury, rarity, and workability of gold over all other metals. The domain of the wealthy, jewelry began to symbolize political and religious power in the community. Ancient Egyptians also included jewelry in burial rituals, dressing corpses in their gold finery for the afterlife.

Egyptian jewelry was predominantly manufactured in large workshops attached to temples or palaces. The ancient Egyptians were big fans of bright colors, and so often used colored glass in conjunction with gold, in place of the natural colors of precious gems. There was a more brightly colored glass formation that mimicked nearly each gemstone. The different colors meant different things: for example, the Book of the Dead dictated that the necklace of Isis around a mummy’s neck must be red to satisfy the goddess Isis’s need for blood, while green jewelry symbolized new growth for crops and fertility. Although lapis lazuli and silver, which were also popular, had to be imported from outside Egypt, most other materials were found in or near Egypt. For example, Egyptians mined the queen Cleopatra's favorite gem, the emerald, in the Red Sea.

Egyptian jewelry designs began to spread around the region, and can also found in ancient Phoenician jewelry. As the manufacture and wearing of jewelry became more widespread, it was common to trade between the Middle East and Europe, as suggested by ancient Turkish designs found in Persian jewelry. Women began to wear elaborate gold and silver pieces that were used in ceremonies. This would soon usher in an era of elaborate and extravagant personal adornment.