The meaning of jewelry;
All ornaments worn on the body and dresses, regardless of the value of the jewelry, are called jewelry. The word jewelry is derived from the verb to wear.
Description of Jewelry:
Although the name of jewelry is called as bijouterie today, when people think of jewelry, jewelry usually comes to mind. Gem; Made using precious metals such as gold and silver and precious stones such as diamond and emerald; usually worn on body or clothing; It is the name given to necklaces, earrings, rings, brooches, bracelets, anklets, chains, etc. ornaments. It is multiple jewelery. Jewelry has become an indispensable part of fashion today. Although women and jewelry duo are indispensable elements of fashion, jewelery suitable for men's fashion such as prayer beads, earrings, glasses, bags, hats, ties, belts are today's men's jewelry, some of which are also used as women's jewelry.
The stages of jewelry in the historical process.
Jewelry is the most elegant and most important of the art products of every culture. For this reason, men or women appeal to the feelings of seeing and possessing what is beautiful in all of us. All precious metals and stones, especially gold, have always had a special importance since the day humans became civilized and the first foundations of socialization were laid. Wars broke out for them, civilizations disappeared. There have even been some worshipers in the historical process. The usage areas of precious and semi-precious stones and metals differed in historical process. The process, which started with the simplest definition of "making life easier", gradually took forms such as votive, gift and jewelry. When we look at the stages of jewelry in the historical process, the jewelry of the prehistoric age, the jewelry culture of Anatolian civilizations and the examples of world jewelry; It is enjoyable to understand and make sense of the effect of jewelry on social life.
Prehistoric Periods
The history of jewelry is almost as old as the history of man. The first jewelery must have been created as amulets for hunting and protection purposes, as well as being ornamented in the Paleolithic Age, when people were not settled yet. Easily processed colored stones, teeth, horns, bones and nails parts of game animals and natural materials such as shells of land and marine mollusks are shaped by abrasion by rubbing and scraping, drilled and arranged into necklaces.
For those who are curious about the history of jewelry.
History of Jewelry is as old as human history .
Man made the first jewelery from seashells and animal teeth and used it to differentiate from the ordinary in today's conditions. Sometimes he used it as a symbol of power and sometimes as an ornament. As a result of the evolution of this function for the process, it turned into craft. As a result of the transfer of jewelry to mines, jewelry has reached today.
The first jewelery in the real sense emerged in Mesopotamia and spread from here. Jewelry is among the first products of primitive art in the last phase of the ice age, when modern humans completed their cultural and biological evolution, 30-40 thousand years ago.
It is thought that jewelery emerged in history with art products such as dance, music and body decoration. Jewelry made of seashells, animal teeth, and soft stones had more religious and magical meanings. Jewelry in the form of metalworking, BC. At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, it makes significant progress in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Jewelry techniques and jewelry forms reach all over the world through trade relations, diplomatic gifts, invasions and migrations from this region. Granulation, filigree, casting techniques and ornamental inlays, which are used even today, were developed and successfully applied in Mesopotamia and Egypt. How did jewelry appear in history?
The history of jewelry is as old as the cultural history of humanity.
Archaeological and anthropological data show us that the first art products were dance, music, jewelry and body decoration. Approximately 35 thousand years ago, these art products take their place in the history of civilization as a result of excavations and researches. The first jewelry had religious and magical meanings.
We also learn from research that they were used by magicians as a power tool. It was used as tribal symbols. Sea shells, animal teeth and soft stones were used as materials. In the age when the established cultures emerged where agriculture and animal husbandry started, we encounter the first metal jewelry 7 thousand years ago. Here, natural, pure lead is processed using cold forging techniques.
We see that colored stones such as apetic, fluorite and obsidian were used for the first time in this period by polishing and polishing them into bead form. Again towards the end of this period BC. Mineral demand is increasing in the 4th millennium. While searching for new mines, man finds the first natural gold and silver mines at the beginning of the 4th millennium. During this period, the first political structures and city-states are also established. Thus, stratified societies and status symbols have taken their place in human life.
In what civilization period does all this occur?
The jewelry called the fertile crescent emerged in the region where Iran, the Mediterranean coastline, Mesopotamia and Egypt are located. This region is fertile in terms of agricultural products. However, there are no sources of raw materials. For this reason, Mesopotamian merchants came to Anatolia for shopping and established colonies and brought copper, silver and gold tin from Afghanistan. This is how the Trojan jewelery emerged. Jewelery techniques originate from Egypt and Mesopotamia and thus spread throughout the Mediterranean and into Europe.
What is the oldest known jewelery object and jewelery?
The good news is that all jewelry objects come out together. The oldest jewelery items were extracted from the king's cemetery of the city of Ur in Mesopotamia. Put it in a jewelry showcase even today, it is perfect to attract the customer. So, when did jewelery start and develop in Turkish civilizations? Scythian mausoleums (kurgans) were opened in Siberia. Scythians cover all the peoples of the steppe. Excellent works of art were unearthed in Scythian kurgans from the 7th century. In some of the tombs they decorated with gifts for posthumous life, master goldsmiths' inlaid or plated weapons, gold figurines, gold reliefs adorning harnesses, and ceremonial dresses covered with gold plates show that the steppe peoples valued gold as a status indicator.
Which civilizations have done the best gold processing in Turkish states?
Byzantine historians say that the Gokturks were excellent in iron and gold processing. Excellent works of art have been found in the hoards of Avar Turks in Hungary. Ancient Hun jewelry is monumental and extremely flashy. Art in Eastern cultures is rather an expression of what the palace says. For example, in the Ottoman Empire, there is a tendency to cling to tradition and perfecting the tradition in itself. In the West, this is not like a tradition that has a constant search for innovation.
The used resource; Dokuz Eylül University, Stone and Metalworking
Program Lecturer and Jewelery History Researcher, Archaeologist Dr. Altan Ture.