A LITTLE HISTORY

The history of the jewelry had three basic functions that played in history, as an ornament, also an amulet and as a symbol of wealth, which have finally remained constant to this day.

The jewels in the Stone Age.

Man used natural mineral objects and animals as personal ornament, to reinforce his image or personality.
minerals as their first tools and their first weapons,
His jewels were first bones, teeth, shells, snails, soon began to look for the fewest precious stones, to make tools, for its cutting characteristics and durability, able to cut other materials and separated the precious stones of color or with a special shine , for ornament jewelry or as amulets.

Jewels in the Bronze Age
Weapons and tools became metal with the discovery of copper and then in the Iron Age, with the development of the technology of this material, the stones were relegated as weapons or tools and remained fundamentally for their function as jewel and talisman, maintaining these characteristics until today.

The first techniques of goldsmithing are developed, among them the embossing, the granulation and the filigree of metals such as gold or silver.

The metals and precious stones most valued as jewels were always the scarcest, their possession conferring symbolic values ​​of social status, nobility or wealth to their possessor.

Jewelry in Mesopotamia and Assyria

 Very advanced civilizations that developed an extraordinary jewelry, techniques of jewelry that developed highlights the granulate, which was a decorated surface using gold grains, or filigree and inlaid precious or semi-precious stones.

The jewels in ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians were true enthusiasts of ornamentation and design and introduced an intense renovation in jewelry.

The jewels had a great importance in the Egyptian culture, they had two functions, the gems were valued as much for their beauty as for the magical protection that they provided, that is, they were both talismans and jewels.

They identified metals and minerals with their gods and with certain therapeutic powers, Copper and Malachite identified with their god Hathor and gold with the Sun god, the name of Lapis Lazuli and Turquoise were synonymous with joy and pleasure.

The amulet served them to avoid danger and ward off evil spirits and was the source of the magical forces that protected them.

The jewels in ancient Greece

Philip V of Macedonia Since the first settlers in Greece it is known to use gold jewelry and precious stones.

The ancient Greeks inherited the jewelry technology of the artisans of the Mycenaean culture

The first Greek jewels were of simple design and manufacture, although of very differentiated style from the gems of other cultures, with time, the designs of jewels, the goldsmith's techniques and the range of materials used in their jewelery increased in complexity.

They made luxury objects of great beauty, such as amber beads for necklaces and bracelets, gold jewelery, pins with a head of rock crystal and dish-shaped vessels also of the same semiprecious stone.

The Greeks were the first to create a new jewel: the cameo

The jewels in ancient Rome

Jewelry is of great importance in the Roman world, in all its ages, the so-called ornamenta or products of personal beautification, combs, hair needles, earrings, rings, necklaces, containers for perfume, in bone, ivory, bronze, ceramics etc. they are used by all Roman social classes.

The hairstyle, and the hair jewelry, were an exponent of the social position,

In ancient Rome we find the ring, the precursor of the current engagement ring that was a simple iron ring,

It was a simple iron ring, which in the ancient Roman tradition, was given as a symbol of the cycle of life and eternity and constituted a public promise that the marriage contract between a man and a woman would be respected.

In the time of Pliny (from 23 to 79 after Christ) the ring was made of iron. The gold ring was introduced later, in the second century AD.
The Christians adopted the Roman custom, making the ring a part of the marriage ceremony.
Marie Antoinette necklace

During the Middle Ages, commercial caravans from the East, brought to Europe precious and semi-precious stones, both for use in the jewelry of kings and nobles and for ecclesiastical jewelry.
In France, citizens were not allowed (by law) to wear girdles or garlands made of pearls, precious stones, gold or silver, other similar laws existed in England, this delayed the advancement of the jewelery of the time.

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