subject: Primitive Jewellery [print this page] Primitive Jewellery Primitive Jewellery
Wearing jewellery is a long standing tradition that our ancient ancestors shared. The reasons why we wear them today are not much more different than those that they were used for many, many years ago.
Sheer functionality may have been the original intention of items now considered jewellery. Nowadays, we may use elastic, Velcro and zips to keep our clothes enclosed. Then, besides simple belts and bindings they would have used items designed to clip or hold clothes or other things in place. As technology advanced the original needs disappeared but the desire to hold onto them, lingered on, becoming items purely for display or adapted for other uses.
The display of jewellery differed between tribes, translating into their individual beliefs. They were used as protection to ward off evil spirits or to gain favour with deities in items such as amulets, rings or bracelets. Jewellery was also used to represent everyday life which is more commonly known as fetish jewellery, which not only represents procreation but also work, the weather and anything else that they significantly depended on. Specific pieces of jewellery represented their social standings as a hunter or likewise a shaman; these would have been restricted until successful initiation and training had taken place to earn it.
Jewellery was crafted from what our primitive ancestors could find in their surroundings or through the trade of migrations. Their pagan beliefs that souls and spirits exist within all things also encouraged the use of hunted prey not only for meat and warm clothes but also other parts of the animal such as the hair and bones. These would then be crafted into jewellery items that when worn would give the wearer the perception that they then possess the same abilities as the slain animal.
Besides display, protection and potency, jewellery was also used to alter the form of the body. There is a tribe in South East Asia whose female predecessors still adhere to their ancient form of lengthening the neck by adding coils successively as they develop throughout their childhood. There are many reasons to why they do this including some that have already been mentioned such as cultural identity. Even during those times, jewellery was worn on nearly every conceivable part of the body.
Modern culture is not so dissimilar. We may have become more technologically advanced with global trade and improved manufacturing techniques enabling us to use more intricate designs and different levels of functionality. Though, the reasons and purposes, albeit some may have a different twist, are practically the same as those our ancestors once used them for.
