The first jewel in the world
History and curiosities about jewellery always manage to surprise us. The first jewel in the world, the oldest ever found, was undoubtedly the beginning of a great and long adventure that still fascinates us today. Let’s discover together how it was born and all its peculiarities!
The very first jewel
The first jewel in the world, or at least the oldest jewel ever found, was discovered during an excavation campaign in the Blombos cave, in Africa facing the Indian Ocean. It dates back to about 75,000 years ago and represents one of the earliest artistic proofs of humanity.
41 precious shells
It is a necklace made of shells, created from 41 marine pieces that were pierced to be strung on a thread which, unfortunately, has been lost. The extraordinariness of this discovery lies not only in the precision of the piercing of the shells, but also in the fact that the necklace seems to have been made at least 30,000 years before the first works of jewellery art.
It dates back to the time of the advent of homo sapiens sapiens, who therefore engaged in the creation of objects and tools of beauty and not only of necessity.
The discovery
The precious necklace from prehistory was discovered by chance during an excavation. The excavation, carried out by archaeologists from France, Great Britain, and Norway, was led by Christopher Helshilwood. This necklace represents for experts in history and archaeology the proof of the historical moment when ornamental tools began to be made.
The peculiarities
The necklace is indeed an important symbol of the capacity for abstract thought of the first men.
The necklace is made up of 41 shells, coming from a mollusc, Nassarius Krassianus, which lives in river estuaries. Probably, therefore, they came from a river about 20 km from the cave and were pierced and worn for ornamental use.
Traces of ochre colouring were also found. The ancients, therefore, already used colour for their artistic creations.
The last useful piece of information this jewel gives us is the fact that it can help reconstruct the movements of populations in Africa, long before migrating towards Europe. How many fascinating discoveries!
The first jewel of a long series, which continues even today, also at Ferro Gioielli!
