Shell beads from 100,000 years ago count as jewellery
Jewellery, from brooches and rings to necklaces and earrings, adorns the body with gems, metals, beads, or organic treasures like amber and coral. Nassarius shell beads about 100,000 years old are thought to be the oldest known pieces, and the word itself goes back to a Latin term for a plaything.
Jewellery, spelled jewelry in American English, covers decorative items worn on the body or on clothing, from rings, earrings, and necklaces to pendants, bracelets, brooches, and cufflinks. In Western usage the word is limited to durable ornaments, so flowers do not count. It comes from jewel, borrowed from Old French jouel and ultimately from the Latin jocale, meaning plaything.
Few artefacts are older: shell beads made from Nassarius snails about 100,000 years ago are thought to be the earliest known jewellery. People have worn it to fasten clothing or hair, to mark status as a wedding ring does, to show ethnic, religious, or social affiliation, to ward off harm as amulets, and to carry personal meaning such as love or mourning. Some cultures store dowries in jewellery or wear coins, and ornaments have served as currency too, as with slave beads. Brooches and buckles began as plain fasteners and turned decorative as that practical need faded.
Materials range from gemstones, amber, coral, precious metals, beads, and shells to glass, enamel, carved wood, bone, ivory, clay, and hemp. Platinum alloys used in jewellery run from 90 to 95 percent pure, and the silver is usually sterling, 92.5 percent fine. Silversmiths, goldsmiths, and lapidaries forge, cast, solder, cut, carve, and 'cold-join' parts with adhesives, staples, and rivets. Stones are chosen for rarity, hardness, and optical qualities such as refractive index, tests on which diamond, zircon, sapphire, and ruby stand out.
Diamonds were first mined in India, and whether Pliny's 'adamas' was a diamond is still argued over. Their use in jewellery goes back to the marriage of Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy in 1477, and they now dominate engagement rings. By 2005 Australia, Botswana, Russia, and Canada were among the chief producers. The British crown jewels include part of the Cullinan, found in 1905, which at 3,106.75 carats was the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered.
Source: Jewellery
