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Palaeolithic Age
As a species, we love to adorn ourselves with jewelry, makeup, hair
accessories. We do it now to enhance our looks, to attract a mate and
because it just makes us feel good about ourselves. Some forms of
adornment are symbolic ˇV like wedding rings. Or theyˇ¦re used to make a
statement about our lifestyle, like multiple piercings and earrings.
Have you ever wondered what the origins are of such self-decoration?
Was there a meaning behind it? Or did we just start wearing beads,
necklaces and earrings as our awareness of self increased and as we
evolved?
We know that the earliest jewelry of bits of bones, shells and other
personal adornments appeared in graves about 40,000 years ago. The idea
that there was an afterlife, and the belief in spirits both good and
bad, gave rise to the means to attract the good spirits and ward off
the bad ones.
People protected themselves from evil spirits with adornments in the
form of necklaces or bracelets, and pierced themselves with the same
bones and shells to have these amulets on their persons at all times.
At this time people also started painting their bodies with red ochre,
which can be considered the earliest form of makeup. They also started
lining their eyes with kohl to protect themselves against the force
known as the ˇ§Evil Eye.ˇ¨
Even today, much jewelry takes the form of amulets. People wear crosses
around their necks, or the Star of David, or wear a claddagh ring ˇV all
to attract good fortune or ward off bad luck. There are even more
throwbacks to this earliest form of magic, such as a lucky rabbitˇ¦s
foot, or a lucky penny. Or we often have less well known, more personal
amulets that have a meaning to us alone, but are still worn as good
luck charms and amulets.
