The first jewel in the world

History and curiosities about jewelry always manage to surprise us. The first jewel in the world, the oldest ever discovered, 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 first jewel ever

The first jewel in the world, or at least the oldest jewel ever discovered, was found during an excavation campaign in the Blombos cave, in Africa overlooking the Indian Ocean. It dates back to about 75 thousand years ago and represents one of the first artistic proofs of humanity.

41 precious shells

This is a shell necklace, created from 41 marine pieces. which were drilled to be threaded onto a thread that, unfortunately, has been lost. The extraordinary nature of this discovery does not only concern the precision of the drilling of the shells , but also the fact that the necklace appears to have been produced at least 30 thousand years before the first works of jewelry art.
In fact, it dates back to the advent of homo sapiens sapiens, who therefore committed himself to the creation of objects and tools of beauty and not just 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 directed by Christopher Helshilwood. This necklace represents for experts in history and archaeology the evidence of the historical moment in which ornamental tools began to be made.

The special features

The necklace is in fact an important symbol of the early men's ability to think abstractly.

The necklace is made 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 perforated 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 information that this jewel gives us is the fact that it can contribute to reconstructing the movements of the populations of Africa, well before emigrating to Europe. How many fascinating discoveries!

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The first jewel of a long series, which continues today, also at Ferro Gioielli!