suddenly came up with an idea, wondering when humans first used jewelry to dress up themselves, and how they formed this concept;
began to search for information; according to the information found The earliest discovered use of jewelry by humans can probably be traced back to the distant Stone Age.
According to reports, Italian archaeologists have excavated the corpse of an ancient human female about 160,000 years ago near the Mediterranean Sea. This female corpse is wearing a string of animal bones and stones. Into a necklace. This may be the earliest human jewelry in the world we have discovered so far.
In addition, archaeologists have discovered that there are examples of hominid deliberate collections of shells and combinations in the Mediterranean area. Qafzeh Cave is a Paleolithic human site in the Mediterranean that dates back to 120,000 years ago; many shells found there have traces of perforations; this is the same as the Mislia Cave in its nearby site. A large number of unperforated shells were found in contrast; this shows that these shells with natural perforations were deliberately collected by people of that era.
University of Kansas A team led by anthropologist Frayer excavated 8 eagle claws from the Neanderthal site in Krapina, Croatia, and found 4 of them. There are cut traces of smooth edges on the top, and the three largest eagle claws have small cuts, and all of them have traces of being polished or polished; from this, archaeologists infer the ancient Neanderthal It is understood that eagle claws can be made into ornaments 130,000 years ago;
On April 16, 2004, scientists from Europe, America and South Africa reported in the journal Science,They also found evidence of ancient human use of jewelry near a 75,000-year-old "Blombos" (Blombos) on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa.
On the beach 12 miles from the "Blombos Cave", experts found 41 pea-sized shells, which are the shells of cartilaginous animals (Nassarius kraussianus) in the nearby sea. It has been determined that these shells have a history of 75,000 years. The shape and size of these shells are very similar. Each shell has a small hole at the top and it is dyed ocher red. Obviously, these shells have been specially selected and dyed. Viewed under a microscope, the extensions and perforations of these shells are very smooth, and there are some spots on their surfaces that are completely absent from natural shells. This may be caused by wearing rope, clothing, or rubbing with other shells. Archaeologists believe that this is a strong evidence that humans of this period have consciously pierced the shells and wore them as necklaces or bracelets.
So far, the earliest ornaments discovered by humans in our country to dress up themselves are "strings" made by the cavers of Beijing Mountain Top cave about 18,000 years ago using jade, bones, teeth, and shells. . The shape of the stone selected on the "string decoration" is unconventional, and the small stone beads above are polished with white limestone blocks, with small holes drilled in the middle; the perforated teeth are dug from both sides of the tooth root and penetrate the tooth cavity. Made.
Later, Chinese archaeologists discovered in Hemudu, Zhejiang a large number of Neolithic artifacts dating back about 7000 years, including 28 kinds of ornaments made of jade and fluorite.
According to the research of archaeologists, our ancestors have used turquoise, agate, pearls and other jewels to make beads, necklaces and bracelets as early as 5000 years ago. Wait for the jewelry to wear; and in the process of making these jewelry, most of the more professional processes such as cutting, cutting, grinding, drilling, etc. are used; this proves that the humans of that period already had a high level of craftsmanship in jewelry making.
Despite the unremitting efforts of archaeologists, we have found a lot of evidence about ancient human wearing jewelry, but we still have reason to believe that the earliest jewelry worn on humans was not at first For beauty, but for practicality;
Let us imagine how difficult it is for our human ancestors to survive in the extremely harsh natural environment. In addition to the need to pay attention to avoid all kinds of natural disasters and beast attacks, they also often need to face the dilemma of not getting enough food; they need to exhaust all their physical and mental energy to survive in the cruel conditions in the wild People in this period will not have extra energy and time to make jewelry to hang on their necks or hands, but just for beauty;
German art historian Grosse in 1894 Published the book "The Origin of Art"; the view in the book about the decorative objects appearing on primitive peoples is that most of the artworks of primitive peoples are not based on pure aesthetic motives. They may only consider more Their practical value.
So what practical value does primitive human jewelry have?
From the origin of jewelry, we can roughly infer the following points:
First, it is used as a camouflage means or attack weapon when hunting;
In primitive society, humans are fighting against nature. In order to protect themselves and avoid the harm of beasts, they often wear animal skins, horns and other things they get on their heads, arms, wrists or feet; on the one hand, this is to pretend to be prey. The same kind is used to confuse the opponent or hide oneself; on the other hand, these animal skins or horns are themselves a weapon of defense or attack.
Second, it is used for counting or memorizing;
With the development of primitive society, humans have many things that need to be counted in the process of hunting and labor; at first, physical counting was adopted. , For example, use small stones, branches or shells, etc.; at first, these objects were just stacked in one place to add or subtract. However, these counted objects are easy to be scattered, and at the same time it is not convenient to carry and store. So there is a way to wear it with a rope.
The small stones, shells, animal bones or teeth that are hung on the neck, waist or wrist by ropes greatly facilitate the needs of counting or remembering at that time.
Of course, in addition to the practical value of the accessories worn by primitive humans, they also have a great spiritual effect:
First of all, this is a symbol of strength .
In primitive societies with very simple equipment, humans will undoubtedly need great courage and strength to obtain food from nature and defeat ferocious beasts. In the eyes of primitive people, the reason why beasts are full of power is that their sharp claws, hard bones, and beautiful fur are the signs of these ferocious animals; therefore, after capturing these beasts, primitive humans eat what they can eat, and what is left is The bones and teeth of the animals were put on the body in a string to show that they were more brave than those fierce beasts. The more such “jewelry” a person wears, the more it shows that he has captured more beasts;
Secondly, this is a kind of totem worship.
Sun, moon and stars, wind, rain and thunder, these are all ordinary natural phenomena. But in the eyes of primitive people, these things have some kind of magical power.
When mankind did not understand nature, mankind would have infinite awe and admiration for these natural phenomena; mountain fires, earthquakes or floods encountered by chance would be regarded as mysterious powers; faced with powerful forces , Human beings can't help but produce the act of praying;
develops to the later stage, and everyone is deeply fascinated by some images in nature and worships them as mysterious images. As a result, humans began to make natural materials such as shells or gravel into those mysterious images,Take it with you as a talisman. This produces moon-shaped bracelets, sun-shaped rings or earrings, etc.
Perhaps, there are many more "practical values" that caused primitive humans to start wearing "jewelry"; but when the productivity level of human society is so high that humans do not need them, they are always on guard against natural enemies. When mankind later invented the "knot count" or even written records, the old habit of wearing jewelry was not forgotten, but more attention was paid to the decorative effect of jewelry. Slowly, humans have developed the habit of wearing jewelry with them.
This is the origin of the original jewelry.
Of course, as for when humans first began to wear jewelry, we cannot accurately verify it now; we can only make the above inferences from archaeological discoveries.
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