The oldest known pieces of jewelry are 100,000 year old beads made from shells. Other pieces of jewelry from ancient times were made from bone, animal teeth, wood, and carved stone. It can have several functions; it can be used to hold hair or a garment together (although buttons are NOT considered to be jewelry), it could be a simple body adornment, or it can be a way for people to store their wealth.

Throughout all of history, jewelry has been indicative of status, or social class. For example, in some civilizations only certain ranks could wear certain types of jewelry. In modern times however, jewels are mostly a way to tell how much money somebody has. Many types of jewelry and EGL loose diamonds are now considered to be strictly feminine, but wedding rings are okay.

In some cultures it is still perfectly masculine to display gems, and you will often see very wealthy men and rap artists adorn themselves in large pieces of jewelry.

Jewelry also has religious aspects to it, even from the days of ancient Egypt, where their jewelry began to symbolize both power and religion, and it was worn by the living and the dead alike. Certain colored gems also represented different things, just as GIA diamond rings represent certified gems.

In Greece jewelry was rarely worn except for public appearances and special occasions. It was mainly worn by women to show status, and a lot of jewelry was meant to be protection from the 'evil eye' as well as a religious symbol.

In Rome men were expected to wear at least one ring, but some would wear nothing while others would wear one on each finger. Both men and women alike would wear carved stone rings with some kind of symbol on it. They would use these rings to seal documents with wax, and the symbol on the wax would tell the receiver who it was from.

Around the eight century is when it became unusual for men to adorn themselves with gems and jewelry, even with a non conflict diamond, although weapons often had jewels embedded within them, and signet rings were still used.

The jewelry we are most accustomed to today is called "costume jewelry." It was developed in the 1930's, so that middle class people could adorn themselves as well. The word "costume" in this sense is meant to describe an outfit as we know it today.

This type of jewelry is a good example of capitalism, as is made from cheap materials, and is meant to go with a specific outfit or fashion that would ideally outdate itself so that more costume jewelry would need to be purchased in order to match with the next big thing.

Components of this jewelry are usually glass, plastic, brass, or even semi-precious rather than precious minerals. Synthetics such as cubic zirconia (which look like diamonds) and rhinestones are often used as well.