Prehistory & Ancient History
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Archaeological Finds in Morocco Tell us that Shell Beads were Used as Decorative Objects; the Oldest Jewelry Known to Man. They May have Served as Amulets.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Purposely Drilled Shells from Israel and Algeria.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Purposely Drilled Shells from South Africa.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Animal Teeth and Bone Beads Found in France.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Fossil Shell and ivory Beads Found in Czech Republic Region (East Gravettian Culture).
General History
- Badarian Culture in Egypt (c. 4500 BC to 3250 BC). Domestication of Animals. Sedentary Settlements.
General History
- Social Differentiation by Burying Prominent People in Different Areas of Cemeteries.
- Invention of the Wheel (circa 5000 BC), Presumably First for Pottery Purposes.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- The Ancient Thracian Civilization Produces the Oldest Worked-Gold Objects. They were Discovered at a Burial Site in Varna, Bulgaria.
General History
- Uruk Period in Sumer (4100 BC-2900 BC)
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Badarian Culture in Egypt Starts Using Alluvial Gold and Manufactures Glazed Steatite Beads.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Naqada Culture in Southern Egypt Imports Obsidian from Ethiopia for Tools.
- Jewelry Made of Gold, Lapis, and Ivory.
- The Naqada Culture Starts Using Symbols.
- Nephrite Jade Used for Weapons and Ornaments in China
General History
- First Cuneiform Script in Sumer Followed by the Naqada Culture Starting to Use Symbols (3300 BC) that Will Evolve into the Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Ancient Faience Found in Nile Valley.
General History
- Dynastic Period in Egypt; King Meni Unifies Upper and Lower Egypt.
General History
- Dynastic Periods in Sumer (2900 BC-2334 BC), Early Bronze Age in Sumer.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Lapis Lazuli, Carnelian, Turquoise, Green Feldspar (Amazonite) Used by the Egyptians.
- Chasing and Repoussé in Egypt. (1st Dynasty)
- Soldering in Egypt & Mesopotamia (3000-2800 BC)
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- First Known Instance of Glass Production in Syria.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Use of Jet Beads During Bronze Age.
General History
- Bronze Age on Crete; Minoan Civilization’s Uprise.
- Great Pyramid of Gizeh (2560 BC) built.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Earliest Examples of Granulation at Ur (Iraq).
- Casting of Gold in Egypt.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Minoan Goldsmiths use Foil-Backed Stones in their Jewelry.
General History
- Rise of Babylon in Sumer.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Earliest Known Examples of Granulation from Egypt in Jewelry of Khnumet (12th Dynasty).
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Jet is Mined in England.
- Glass Begins to be Shaped While Molten (Previously Worked as Solid, Like Stone).
- Art of Lost Wax Casting Developed in Near East.
- Jadeite in Use by the Olmecs of Mexico.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Earliest Known Examples of True Cloisonné Enamel (Mycenaean).
- Chavín Culture in Peru Using Sheet Gold (Until 300 BC).
General History
- Phoenician Sailors Establish a Trading Network Throughout the Mediterranean
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- The Ancient Greeks Start Making Intaglios and Cameos, the Glyptography Techniques Spread to the East Due to Alexander the Great’s Conquests (4th Century BC).
- Iron Hand Tools – e.g., Chisels, Saws, Awls, Hammers, Pliers – Invented During the Early Iron Age.
General History
- Etruscan Civilisation Established in Modern Day Tuscany
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Diamonds Known in India, Exported 300-400 BC
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Etruscans Bury the Ashes of their Dead with Grave Gifts, Fibulas and Armillas are Amongst Them.
- Sapphires Used by Etruscans.
- Earliest Use of Beaded Wire; Linked Chains Forming “Straps” Found in Nimrud (Iraq).
General History
- First Electrum Coins Used in Lydia (Anatolia, Turkey).
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Amber Used by the Etruscans.
General History
- Alexander the Great Conquest into Asia, the Arabic Peninsula and Egypt (334BC – 323BC).
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Greek Theophrastus (c.372-287 BC) Compiles Oldest Surviving Mineralogy Text.
- Fibulas are Worn by Romans.
- Armillas are Given to Roman Soldiers as a Military Decoration.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Peridot Mined on Island of Zabargad (Red Sea).
- Tourmaline Curvette Cameo of Alexander the Great, Originating in India, Carved 3rd or 2nd C BC.
- Clay Furnaces and Blowpipes Used to Cast Gold, Alloy it with Silver in Peru and Ecuador.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Earliest Ornamental Use of Red Spinel in Kabul Afghanistan, also used by Romans; Blue Spinel Found in England in the Roman Period, 51 BC-400 AD.
General History
- Julius Ceasar Completes his Conquest of Europe to the Rhine (Alesia, 52 v.Chr).
- Octavian (Later: Emperor Augustus) Conquers Egypt (Battle of Actium, 30BC).
General History
- The Vesuvius Eruption.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Pompeii and Herculaneum are Buried in Ashes and Debris, Pliny the Elder Dies, Being too Close of a Witness of the Eruption.
Discoveries & Jewelry History
- Earliest Known Champlevé Enamels, from Sudan.
- Cat’s Eye Chrysoberyl Known in Rome, Forgotten in the West Until end of 19th C.
- Venice Becomes Center for Glass-Making, Exports Imitation Gems (10 AD-1100 AD).
- South American Indians in Chocó region mine and work platinum (first 3 centuries AD)
- Diamonds as Octahedra (Natural Crystals) Mounted in Roman Rings (Through 3rd Century AD)