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The
Indian sub-continent has the longest incessant legacy
of jewelry making anywhere. One of the first to start
jewelry making were the peoples of the Indus Valley
Civilization. The peoples of the Indus Valley were creating
gold earrings and necklaces, bead necklaces and metallic
bangles. Metals were widely used, the largest jewelry
trade in the Indus Valley region was the bead trade.
Beads in the Indus Valley were made using system techniques.
Jewelry in the Indus Valley was worn predominantly by
females, who wore numerous clay or shell bracelets on
their wrists. They were often shaped like doughnuts
and painted black. In India today, bangles are made
out of metal or glass. Other pieces that women frequently
wore were thin bands of gold that would be worn on the
forehead, earrings, primitive brooches, chokers and
gold rings. Small beads were often crafted to be placed
in men and women’s hair. Unlike many other cultures,
Indus Valley jewelry was never buried with the dead.
Instead, jewelry was passed down to children or family.
Nobility and goldsmiths often hid their jewelry under
their floorboards to avoid theft.
As time progressed, the methods for jewelry advanced,
thus allowing complex jewelry to be made. Necklaces
were soon adorned with gems and green stone.
India was the first country to mine .While China used
the diamonds they found mainly for carving jade, India
traded the diamonds, realising their valuable qualities.
Today, many of the jewelry designs and traditions are
still used and jewelry is commonplace in Indian ceremonies
and weddings.
Jewelry is any piece of fine material used to adorn
the human body. The word jewelry is derived from the
word jewel, in around the 13th century. Although in
earlier times jewelry was created for more sensible
uses, such as wealth storage and pinning clothes together,
in recent times it has been used almost wholly for decoration.
The first pieces of jewelry were made from natural materials,
such as bone, animal teeth, shell, wood, and carved
stone. jewelry was often made for people of high significance
to show their status and, in many cases, they were buried
with it.
Jewelry is made
out of almost every material known and has been made
to decorate nearly every body part.
Diamonds, long considered
the most prized of gemstones, were first mined in India.
Pliny may have mentioned them.The British crown jewels
contain the Cullinan Diamond, part of the largest gem-quality
rough diamond . |