| Please also visit the following:
History of Lampwork Glass Beads, Gemstones, and Wire Wrap Jewelery
I would like to share with you my interest in the history of glass beads, gemstones, and jewelry. From time to time I will add a brief summary of some aspect of the subject.
BEADED CLOTHING
Embroidering clothing with beads goes back to prehistoric times. A fossil of a Cro-Magnon man from 30,000 B.C was excavated in Russia. His fur clothing was beaded with ivory beads. Northern Chinese animal hide clothing containing embroidered shell beads dating from 5000 BC have been found. In ancient times the Egyptians embroidered beads made of quartz into their clothing. Clothes with beaded sleeves were found in an excavation in Central Asia of a Bactrian settlement of the first Century B.C. Beads were embroidered into religious clothing in Europe in the Middle Ages (from around 1100 A.D.). Later beginning in Renaissance times beaded embroidery became more common and elaborate in secular clothing. Beaded clothing was particularly popular in African and American Indian cultures. Beaded clothing was considered a symbol of royalty in many African cultures. In some African tribes from the 16th Century, the king would wear clothing made completely of beads. Beaded clothing, belts, and moccasins have been used by American Indian tribes for centuries. The beads used in making clothing were important items of trade in various cultures. The beads used for embroidery were usually made of shells, bones, or stones in prehistoric and early historic times, but with the invention of glass, that material became popular for sewing into clothing.
Would you like to sew beads into your clothing?
BEADS Click here to see some of the handcrafted glass beads that the Beadshaper is offering.
NECKLACE
Prehistoric necklaces were often made of bones and shells on a string. Gold necklaces appeared in Mesopotamia about 2500 BC and stones were added around 2000 BC. Gold collars were worn by wealthy and noble men and women in ancient Egypt. Persian nobility wore pearl necklaces around 500 BC. Pendants were popular in Greece during the classical period 500-300 BC. Gold became prevalent in Greek necklaces during the Greek empire period after the time of Alexander the Great. The Etruscans in Italy wore gold necklaces going back to the 8th Century BC. The Romans at first discouraged the wearing of jewelry, but later started wearing necklaces with gemstones after the 1st Century AD. Jewelry was discouraged in early Medieval Europe, but choker and long necklaces, often made of pearl chains with pendants consisting of gems or metal crosses became fashionable in Renaissance times. Necklaces in Asia were worn since ancient times. Indian necklaces were known for silver filigree, silver beads, precious and semi-precious stones with different styles in various regions. The Aztec nobility in pre-Columbian Mexico wore necklaces of gold beads in the form of animals. The Hawaiian islanders have worn flower necklaces for centuries.
  
Necklace Copper Pendant
PENDANTS
Pendants were among the earliest forms of jewelry. A copper pendant believed to have been made in Sumeria, the first civilization, around 8700 B.C. has been found by archaeologists. In Babylonia around the 8th Century B.C. seals that were used to sign documents by imprinting in wet clay tablets were worn as pendants. The earliest pendants were made of stone, but later glass and gemstones were substituted. The Pharaohs in agent Egypt wore a type of pendant called a cartouche. The cartouche had a rectangular shape and had the name of the Pharaoh inscribed on it. It was supposed to protect him from evil. The ancient Greeks made gold pendants. The Greek necklace often featured multiple small vase-shaped pendants portraying figures of deities in Greek mythology. The ancient Romans also made gold pendants, but they more often consisted of one focal pendant. Sometimes a cabochon gem would be set in the gold pendant. Pendants were also worn in ancient India and ancient China.
Click here PENDANTS to see modern day examples of glass pendant beads.
COPPER
Copper was the first metal mined at the dawn of civilization about 10,000 BC in Mesopotamia and Persia. It was first used for trinkets and tools, then for pots and pans. Bowls were made by hollowing out a block of wood, placing a sheet of copper on it, and hammering the copper to fit the shape of the mold. The ancient Egyptians found that copper was the best material for water pipes. Some copper pipes found in ancient Egyptian buildings remain intact today thousands of years later. The Egyptians also developed bronze (which is harder than copper) by alloying tin with copper. Much of the copper used in Egypt was mined in the Timna Valley in Israel and much of the Greek and Roman copper came from Cyprus. Copper later came into use in India and China. The Pre-Columbian civilizations of the Western Hemisphere developed copper mining independantly. European scientists discovered the ability of copper to conduct electricity much later in the 17th and 18th Centuries. That discovery was necessary for the scientific advances that made the world what it is today.
AMETHYST
Amethyst is a purple quartz that was known to prehistoric people as evidenced by amethyst stones found in neolithic graves. The word comes from Greek and means without drunkeness. The ancient Greeks believed that drinking wine from an amethyst cup would prevent intoxication. Nobility from those of ancient Egypt to the more recent monarchs of 19th Century Europe wore amethyst jewelry. Its purple color is traditionally associated with royalty. Each of the 12 tribes of ancient Israel had its own stone. Amethyst was the stone of the tribe of Dan. The Christian clergy in Rennaisance times considered amethyst a sign of chastity and often wore amethyst rings.
  Amethyst Rhodium
RHODIUM
An English chemist named William Hyde Wollaston was the first person to isolate rhodium. He received some ore from South America and extracted platinum and palladium from it. That left a dark red residue. The residue consisted of sodium rhodium chloride. Wollaston treated the red residue with hydrogen creating a chemical reaction which separated out sodium chloride leaving a bright silver color residue of the element rhodium. Today rhodium is used in jewelry as well as an electical conductor and an alloy in other precious metals.
Bead Wire Wrap History Click here to read more about the history of beads, gemstones, and wire wrap jewelry in my weblog.
.
.
.
.
.
|
