Prehistoric Jewelry
Cave paintings back in 40,000 B.C. have expressed the production of objects of adornment, which archeologists have found. Despite research, it is still not for certain what their real function was during the Palaeolithic period. Since jewelry was produced for utilitarian, magical and aesthetic purposes, some researches are likely convinced that they should be “surrounded by something beyond human reality, something superhuman.”
However, others argue that jewelry has existed since modern, Cro-Magnon, man began to form small groups. Excavations in Europe do back up this argument. The adornments found were made from the bones,teeth, and among other parts of animals. They were not mistaken as tools since they were threaded or hung somehow.
According to research, prehistoric men considered animal teeth, horns and claws and polished stones as the holders of material and spiritual forces.
Lambert, Sylvie. The RIng, Design: Past and Present. Switzerland: RotoVision, 1998. Print. p. 19 -23.
- Perforated shell(s), Musee Archeologique, St. Germain-en-Laye
- Bead(s)
- Perforated tooth (teeth)