A Bit of Jewellery History
For a long time, it was believed that designed jewellery only appeared around 40,000 years ago. However, this assessment has been fundamentally revised in recent years. A South African find in 2007 almost doubled the time period. An approximately 100,000-year-old find of skilfully worked shells from Algeria has been considered the oldest evidence of jewellery in the world, found in 2009. In comparison, the Venus of Willendorf, the famous sculpture from the later Palaeolithic period in our latitudes, is just 25,000 years old.
Jewellery has accompanied human beings since their earliest beginnings, so early on, it went beyond storytelling and eagle feathers. From the beginning, jewellery has had a function: tribal members emphasised their membership with accessories worn only by them, and the type of decorative adornment indicated the rank and function of the individual. In ancient civilisations, complicated codes developed in this way, which appear in the splendour of monarchies and churches to this day.
Today, they are only rarely signs of real power, and the gold-decorated display of wealth and prosperity has long since lost its significance. Modern jewellery can, but by no means must, be made of precious metals - and is, above all a testament to the style and taste of its wearer. But it can, of course, still be a symbol of deepest togetherness, as it was many millennia ago. At the latest when it has been given by a loving partner.
