If you weren't told anything about the necklaces in this picture, you would most likely assume they were the efforts of a modern jewelry artisan.These are actually Persian necklaces dating back to around 550 BC to 642 AD. The beads are faience beads, an early from of ceramic-like beads first made in Egypt about 5,500 years ago. Like today's glass beads, faience beads imitated expensive gemstones.
The jewelry here are examples of how beading designs are created using different placements and bead choices. The necklaces are as wearable today as they were thousands of years ago!
References
What is faience?
Lois Sherr Dubin (1987). The History of Beads: 30,000 Years BC to the Present. Harry N. Abrams Inc. (also picture source)
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The Beading Gem's Journal
That's so interesting. I never would have guessed that jewelry was anywhere near that old - at all!
ReplyDeleteActually, the oldest beads (shells) used for jewelry could be as old as 80,000 years! Now that is uber antique!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.beadinggem.com/2007/01/worlds-oldest-beads.html