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Jewelry is one of the oldest types of archaeological artefact – with 100,000-year-old beads made from Nassarius shells thought to be the oldest known jewelry. The basic forms of jewelry vary between cultures but are often extremely long-lived; in European cultures the most common forms of jewelry listed above have persisted since ancient times, while other forms such as adornments for the nose or ankle, important in other cultures, are much less common.

Jewelry may be made from a wide range of materials. Gemstones and similar materials such as amber and coral, precious metals, beads, and shells have been widely used, and enamel has often been important. In most cultures jewelry can be understood as a status symbol, for its material properties, its patterns, or for meaningful symbols. Jewelry has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings, and even genital jewelry. In modern European culture the amount worn by adult males is relatively low compared with other cultures and other periods in European culture.

The word jewelry itself is derived from the word jewel, which was anglicized from the Old French “jouel”, and beyond that, to the Latin word “jocale”, meaning plaything. In British English, Indian English, New Zealand English, Hiberno-English, Australian English, and South African English it is spelled jewelry, while the spelling is jewelry in American English. Both are used in Canadian English, though jewelry prevails by a two to one margin. In French and a few other European languages the equivalent term, joaillerie, may also cover decorated metalwork in precious metal such as objets d’art and church items, not just objects worn on the person.

Form and function

A gold, diamonds and sapphires red guilloché enamel “Boule de Genève”, a type of pendant watch used as an accessory for women. An example of an object which is functional, artistic/decorative, marker of social status or a symbol of personal meaning.

Humans have used jewelry for a number of different reasons:

• functional, generally to fix clothing or hair in place.
• as a marker of social status and personal status, as with a wedding ring
• as a signifier of some form of affiliation, whether ethnic, religious or social
• to provide talismanic protection (in the form of amulets)
• as an artistic display
• as a carrier or symbol of personal meaning – such as love, mourning, a personal milestone or even luck
• considered it as a good investment
• superstition

~ this is an excerpt from Wikipedia