What is the Origin of Jewelry?
Human beings love to adorn themselves with jewelry, makeup, hair accessories and stylish clothes. Why do we do it? Is it to enhance our looks, make a statement, attract a mate or because it just makes us feel good to look good? Some forms of adornment are symbolic - like wedding rings or crosses. Some jewlery is used to make a statement about our lifestyle, like multiple piercings and earrings, or wearing bling.
Anthropologists have found the earliest evidence of jewelry usage - bits of bones, shells and other personal adornments - in the graves of our ancestors, 40,000 years ago. Some scientists have hypothesized that the belief of an afterlife, and the belief in spirits both good and bad, gave rise to finding a means to attract such good spirits and ward off the bad ones. This may have been the birth of jewelry.
People protected themselves from evil spirits with ornaments in the form of necklaces or bracelets, and pierced themselves with the same bones and shells to have these amulets on their persons at all times. Around this same time, people also started painting their bodies with red ochre, which can be considered the earliest form of makeup. They also started lining their eyes with kohl to protect themselves against the force known as the "Evil Eye."
Even today, much jewelry takes the form of amulets. People wear crosses around their necks, or the Star of David, or wear an Irish claddagh ring (claddagh rings feature a miniature crown and heart and are worn by people all over the world as a universal symbol of love, loyalty, friendship and fidelity, and of their Irish heritage) - all to attract good fortune or ward off bad luck. There are even more throwbacks to this earliest form of magic, such as a lucky rabbit's foot, or a lucky penny. Or we often have more personal amulets, that have a meaning to us alone, such as a favorite piece of jewelry or a lucky stone that we wear or carry as good luck charms and amulets.
No matter why we started to wear jewelry, we certainly love to adorn ourselves today. Jewelery can have personal meaning, be a status symbol and certainly enhance one's natural beauty.
About the Author: Scott Harker is the publisher of several websites including: Sherlock Holmes Pastiches, Harvest The Sun | Renewable Energy, Jokes - The Subject is Funny, Dieting Help | Move More - Eat Less, and On The Hook | Fishing Supplies.
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