The art of jewelry is very old, and although current techniques save time and effort, in earlier times were true works of art. We leave you with this great article on web "The Jewel of Jewelry," a good summary of the history of jewelry.

In the Paleolithic, humans used natural objects, minerals and animals as personal ornaments, to reinforce its image or personality. The minerals were used as its first tools and weapons first, but then, differed stones or as talismans or simply as decorations for distinguished from their peers like jewels. Their jewels were first bones, teeth, shells, snails ... simple objects to find. Then they started to select stones and different, and even started to explode mines to extract precious stones. Mines for gems extraction are knowed with more than 6000 years old, as the prehistoric mining complex Gava (Cataluña, Spain).

With the Bronze Age and the discovery of metal, radically changed the technology and techniques for extracting gems and therefore jewelry. The weapons and tools became metal with the discovery of copper and then the Iron Age, the stones were used primarily as jewelry and charms, a fact that has remained until today. They started the first goldsmith techniques, including embossing, granulation and filigree metal like gold or silver. Precious metals and gemstones have always appreciated for being rarest. The possession of them gave a symbolic values ​​of social status, nobility and wealth to its possessor.

Cultures Babylonian, Assyrian and Sumerian (3,000 years BC) were very advanced civilizations that developed an extraordinary jewelry, as evidenced by the fabulous treasures found in excavations of ancient cities. The Egyptians were true fans of the decoration and design and introduced major renovation in jewelry. The custom of burying their Pharaohs and priests with rich jewels has shown the technology of Egyptian jewelry and the types of gemstones used as jewelry or amulets and spiritual significance of these gems.

The jewels had two functions, the gems were valued for their beauty and for magical protection they provided, were both charms and jewelry. Metals and minerals identified with their gods. The Egyptian goldsmiths created their jewelry designs by hand and used a variety precious and semiprecious stones such as amethyst, carnelian, jasper, onyx, lapis lazuli, turquoise and quartz. For a long time, the silver was more important than gold, because of its scarcity, another widely used material was lapis lazuli, a semiprecious stone very spiritual, which was imported.

In Greece began using gold and gems to the 1400 BC. In 300 BC had mastered advanced technology with precious stones such as amethyst, pearls and emeralds, including its size and engraving. The Greeks were the first to create a new jewel: the cameo, which produced a stone of agate from India called sardonyx.

In ancient Rome we find the ring, the precursor of today's engagement ring. It was a simple iron ring, which in ancient Roman tradition, was given as a symbol of the cycle of life and eternity and was a public pledge that the marriage contract between a man and a woman would be respected. At the time of Pliny (23 to 79 AD) the ring was made of iron. The gold ring was introduced later in the second century after Christ. Christians adopted the Roman custom, the ring becoming a part of the wedding ceremony.

During the Middle Ages, trade caravans from the East, brought to Europe-precious stones for use in jewelry of kings, nobles and ecclesiastical jewelry. In France not allowed (by law) to the citizens, wearing girdles or garlands made ​​of pearls and precious stones, gold or silver, similar laws existed in England, this delayed the progress of the jewelry of the time.

The Renaissance was a deep cultural revolution, reaching all the arts and the jewelry and jewelry techniques. In the Renaissance, the technology of carving jewelry allowed the work in harder gems, and make ornaments in architecture, churches and palaces, temples and mosques using columns and elements of semi-precious stones like malachite, alabaster, lapis lazuli and other precious stones, both in Europe and the Middle East. The Renaissance, known for rich colors, changes the fashion and design in clothing and jewelry, painting, sculpture and architecture; traditional religious themes are replaced by other classics and naturalists.

Today, advances in technology, new methods of carving and new treatments have led to the gems of the jewelry trade has increased dramatically. People of any social status can have access to the most beautiful jewels.

Advise: the text has been copied entirely from the source cited below.

Source of text: http://salmara.jimdo.com/historia-de-la-joyeria/