The first prehistoric necklaces were those made of the pierced teeth of animals. In a burial, situated at La Barma Grande, near Mentone, France, there was found in 1884, on a male skeleton, a necklace of 14 stags' teeth, pierced and strung, accompanied by pierced yertebrx of a fish, and having litt:e ornamental pendants of carved bone; animals' claws were also pierced and strung in a like manner to form necklaces. But out of such small begin nings have developed the wonderfully-wrought necklaces of Egyptian and Greek art, and the splendidly designed works of the Renaissance and modern jewelers, as well as the marvelous variety of those produced in the Far East.
The evolution of ring forms covers as wide a range chronologically and geographically as does that of any of the types of jewelry. The origin of the ring has sometimes been ascribed to the knot, in connection with the supposed magic or binding virtues of a piece of string or wire twisted around the finger. Here as in some other cases, however, the comparative facility with which an ornamental effect could be attained was probably the main, if not the exclusive, cause for the wearing of rings. Hence we meet in the course of ages with an almost infinite variety of forms and materials, from a plain round hoop, to an elaborately chased metal ring, or one set with one or more precious stones.
The brooch in its manifold forms was a favorite ornamental object from an early period down to the 17th century, and even later. In medizval times, the Irish and Anglo-Saxon brooches were made with an unhinged pin, which, after having traversed the material to be attached, was turned about until it could be passed through an opening formed on one side of the ring. Later, about the 11th century, the ring was flattened, the opening closed, the pin reduced in length so as to accord with the ring's diameter, and attached to the ring by a hinge. In this style the pin was held down on the ring by the pressure of the article of clothing it had passed through. The import ance of the plaid among the Highlands of Scotland, as a badge of clannish devotion, served to retain the brooch longer in favor in the Highlands than elsewhere, since it both attached the prized garment and adorned it. A famousjewel of this kind is the Loch Buy Brooch. This is set with a Cabochon-cut rock crystal; along the ring are 10 projecting turrets, at the apex of each of which is a pearl. Originally in the possession of the Macleans of Loch Buy, this brooch was eventually acquired by a private collector, and was purchased by the British Museum at the disposal of his collection.
The earliest dated of the great jewel finds in Egypt were those discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1901 at Abydos in the royal tombs there. Among them the bracelets of the queen of Zer, a sovereign who reigned toward the beginning of the 1st dynasty, about 5400 ac., give eloquent testimony of the skill of the Egyptian goldsmiths at this remote period. In one of these bracelets are a series of golden hawks surmounting alternate blocks of gold and turquoise; in another are groups of three dark beads of lapis lazuli, on either side of which are triple gold balls, beaten hollow and soldered together so cleverly that neither ex cess nor difference of color can be perceived. What is pronounced to be the richest of all Egyptian royal tombs is that found at Dahshur in the southern part of the great necropolis of Memphis, wherein had been sepultured several princesses of the family of Amenemhat II of the 12th dynasty (2716-2684 B.c.). The mummy of Princess Knoumit was adorned with a ser pent necklace, composed of beads of gold, silver, carnelian, lapis-lazuli and emerald, as well as hieroglyphic signs wrought in gold and inlaid with gems. She had anklets, bracelets and armlets of gold with precious stone settings. To a later period, but still to one sufficiently remote, belong the jewels of Aah-hotep, queen of Sekenenra III (1610-1597 s.c.), of the 17th dynasty. This queen lived to be almost if not quite a centenarian, and.in her tomb was dis
covered a wealth of jewels, a richly adorned diadem and a pectoral, splendid chains, neck laces, bracelets, armbands, etc., and also her gold signet ring. This discovery was made by Mariette in 1859, in the northernmost part of the Theban necropolis.
Although much valuable jewelry must have been produced in Babylonia and Assyria, the fact that the ancient peoples of these regions did not pay the same devout reverence to the remains of the dead as was done in Egypt, and the differences in architectural construction as well as in climate between Egypt and Meso potamia, have combined to prevent the preserva tion of any considerable part of the jewels. The earliest works of the kind appear to have been executed of copper, and molds for casting metals seem to have been made in a very re mote age. At a later time, the discovery of making bronze by alloying copper with tin rendered another metal available, and in the Assyrian period ornaments of this material to a great degree take the place of copper ones. Some of these bronze ornaments that have been preserved are highly decorated ; one of them, a plaque which was evidently used to exorcise the demons of disease, bears, in an upper row, nine symbols of the gods; beneath them appear figures representing the seven evil spirits caus ing diseases, and below this is shown the patient stretched out on a couch, the god of the waters Ea, who is said to have instructed mankind in the arts, being figured in the act of pronouncing the magic formula destined to banish the dis ease. Underneath this again is depicted the fearful demon Labartu, who is being driven away by another demon, in obedience to the mighty words spoken by Ea. For earrings and necklaces gold and silver were much in use, some finely wrought gold necklaces from early Babylonian times being in existence.* As to Hebrew jewelry before the time of the Kings, our very slight information is derived from the account of the offerings made by the children of Israel in the Wilderness for the decoration of the Tabernacle and for the form ing of the Golden Calf. In the former case we are told (Exod. xxxv, 22) “the men and women brought bracelets and earrings and rings and tablets, all jewels of gold," and for the Golden Calf mention is made of gifts of earrings by men and women. The famous °Breastplate of the High Priest," if we regard this as a jewel, was of course the greatest work of the kind noted in Scripture.f In any case, however, these accounts are not contemporaneous, having rather a legendary than an historic value. The same may be said of the ring (probably a cylin der) given by Judah to Tamar (Gen. xxxvii, 12-26). Of course, Joseph's ring, a gift of Pharaoh, would have been a piece of Egyptian jewelry; indeed, in all probability this was the case also with the jewels contributed by the Hebrews in the Wilderness. At the battle of Gilboa, where King Saul met his death, he is said to have worn his royal crown, which was brought to David by the Amalakite who slew Saul (2 Sam. i, 10). In about 1030 B.C., David carried off from the statue of the Ammonite god Milcom a crown weighing, with its pre cious stones, a talent of gold, worth about $33,325; as David placed this crown on his head, he bore rather a heavy burden, for such an amount of gold would weigh some pounds avoirdupois. In the reign of Solomon, when the temple was to be built, the °Wise King" called in the aid of Phoenician crafts men for its adornment, and probably the He brew jewels of this and a later time were made by Phcenicians, or by those who had received instruction from them. In Isaiah's age we learn from this prophet (iii, 16-26) that the °daughters of Zion" wore metal anklets, mak ing °a tinkling about their feet," also circlets (tires) like the moon, as well as chains and bracelets, ornaments for the legs, headbands, tablets, earrings, rings and nose jewels. Un doubtedly in the case of the wealthy, these adornments were all made of gold.