You must love jewelry, or we wouldn't find you here. But where does Jewelry actually come from, who founded Jewelry?

The founders
Researchers believe it were the ancient Egyptians who first discovered jewelry. Egyptians have always been portrayed as the elite royals in the history of mankind that adored luxury and power, which is quite true. It has been several thousand years since the first piece of jewelry was made with simplicity, magnificence, and elegance, by the Egyptians. They mastered and invented new technologies and were able to access to various kinds of new metals, gemstones, and creative crafting ideas.

As the Egyptians valued personal adornment, all of the men and women, and even their Holy statues were always beautifully decorated with pieces of jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, earrings, collars, rings, armbands, headpieces, and even anklets, made out of gold and many other precious metals. Jewelry had always held a higher place of significance in the lives of the ancient Egyptians, causing them to have a strong belief in the importance of jewelry.

Where was jewelry first used for?
Ancient Egyptian jewelry was to both beautify the wearer and serve as a talisman of power. It was believed to provide the power protection, good luck, or guidance through the afterlife and could ward off bad luck or evil eye.

Ancient Egyptians had a deep connection with the jewelry and each artifact has a different story to tell. Not only women, but men also adorned their bodies with different jewels made up of precious metals, especially gold and copper, rare stone, intricately carved glass, and sometimes even clay or wooden beads. The higher the status of the man or woman, the precious the jewelry is. Egyptians loved wearing elaborate headpieces, carved rings, dangling earrings, artistic necklaces, and even beard ornaments to display the wealth and power of the Pharaohs.

Precious materials like gold, copper, and gemstones were only worn by the royals and noble families that were specially carved and molded by professional craftsmen of that era. Jewelry also brought a decent amount of income to Ancient Egypt through trade to countries like Ancient Persia, Turkey, Greece, Rome, etc, because of the detailed carvings, metalwork, unique beaded structures, and precious stones work that was the forte of Egypt. The Egyptian art of jewelry making can be recognized from afar because of its unique features, motifs, and distinctive use of materials.

Where was it made from?
When gold was discovered along the river of Nile, Egyptian created gold mines to extract as much gold as possible. At first, the gold was used to pay tribute to holy entities and adorn the statues of their Gods. However, with time gold became a major part of the everyday accessories of the royals and noble families of Ancient Egypt. The gold was carved and molded into rings, beads, and headgear of the pharaohs.

Apart from the precious metals and stones, the ancient Egyptians used woods and ceramics to create different shaped beads for their headgear, neckpieces, and bracelets. Faience beads were quite famous for both the living and the dead in ancient Egypt.

Source: Museum of Jewelry