Jewellery is one of the oldest inventions that man has ever created. Arguably older than the wheel and definitely older than the steam engine; jewellery has adorned human beings since we first crawled out of the caves. Indeed archaeologists have found evidence of jewellery that dates back to over a hundred thousand years. These early examples of jewellery consisted of beads that had been created from shells and that were held together by a string created from animal sinew.



Although this wedding jewellery was created thousands of years ago word jewellery developed from the Latin word 'jocale' which meant plaything. This developed into the French word 'jouel' which was in use in the 13th century and this word has developed into the word we used today. The American version of the word spells it slightly differently as jewelry.

Jewellery has had played a number of different roles in society aside from adornment. Jewellery has also been a method of storing wealth and it has also been used as a commodity as well as being used as a pin to connect items of clothing. Jewellery has been used in the transfer of goods and was used in cultures that used the barter system to trade.

Jewellery has also been an important aspect of showing wealth and status within a society with the richest and most esteemed members of the society displaying jewellery. It has also been used as a method of artistic display and also found a use in some cultures and religions to ward away evil spirits. Jewellery has also been used in many situations as a method of indicating membership of a group. But despite the wide variety of different uses jewellery is most popularly used as a form of decoration of the body and has been used to adorn all parts of the body.

There is a great deal of information on jewellery that has been collated over many years. Numerous archaeologists have devoted chunks of their lives to researching jewellery and as a result there is a great amount of quality information about the roles that it has played in the world and the types of jewellery that have existed. The main reason for the interest in jewellery is that it often gives a very good insight into cultures and societies at different times throughout history. Jewellery also tends to be preserved very well and is therefore very rewarding for archaeologists and historians as they can often find complete examples of jewellery that was used in the past.

Jewellery has been found that is as old as dinosaur bones. Bracelets have been found in Russia that were created out of the tusks of a woolly mammoth. Crude necklaces have also been found that are made up of pieces of bone and teeth. There has also been examples of copper jewellery that have been dug up that date back seven thousand years. Jewellery from ancient Egyptian times is expected to date back around 5000 years and in this time gold was treasured as a rare commodity and was a signal of luxury. The reason gold became so popular is that it is relatively easy to work and as a result could be fashioned into desirable functions.