Bangles, earrings, brooches and pendants were common in ancient Egypt.
In ancient Egypt, men and women wore elaborate pieces with jewelry to protect themselves from evil and as adornments. According to AllAboutGemstones.com, the ancient Egyptians began making jewelry from gold, bronze, polychrome glass and precious stones as early as the 4th millennia B.C. Egyptian artisans continued to make highly stylized pieces for both the living and the dead for nearly 4,000 years, many of which are distinct to this culture's ancient history.
Pectoral
The pectoral is a large, heavy piece of ornamental jewelry piece worn over clothing on the chest in ancient Egypt. Worn by royal men and women in life and death, these elaborately crafted jewelry items were made using the cloisonne technique, in which outlines and symbols are connected by gold wires and then soldered to fine sheets of gold. The chest plate would then be inlaid with glass beads or gemstones. Pectorals often resembled a scarab beetle, an eagle, a falcon or a deity.
Wig & Diadem
The wig and diadem are iconic pieces of ancient Egyptian jewelry for the living and the dead. Some were plain, and others featured intricate designs such as flower blossoms or feathers, and gemstones like lapis lazuli, turquoise, rubies and emeralds. The wig part of this elaborate headdress featured flowing waves of hair made of gold beads woven into flexible strands, and it was held in place by a carefully designed diadem. This solid ringlet, usually fashioned out of gold and a few other choice metals, was also placed on the foreheads of royal mummies to protect them in the afterlife.
Scarab Beetle Amulets
Perhaps the most well-known jewelry item of ancient Egypt is the scarab beetle amulet, worn by rich and poor alike to ward off evil and as a good luck charm. No symbol was as important to the ancient Egyptians as the scarab beetle, as its way of rolling a piece of dung into a nearly perfect ball for its young was seen as a testament to the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Although many pieces of jewelry featured the scarab beetle as a motif, amulets that actually resembled scarab beetles were a true prize in ancient Egypt. These were crafted out of semiprecious stones, or more often from faience, a greenish-blue glasslike material made of crushed quartz, lime and alkali. The ancient Egyptians believed scarab beetle jewelry held powerful religious, spiritual and magical properties, and they would carve their name into the flat base of an amulet to ensure that it protected only the proper wearer.
Signet Ring
Ornamental rings worn during ancient Egypt sometimes served an additional purpose: as an official seal of the family that was used to sign legal documents. Egyptian signet rings featured a seal, and sometimes the owner's name and title, deeply engraved in hieroglyphics on an oblong, movable bezel of gold, copper or silver. Royalty, the nobility and other wealthy Egyptians could afford seals in which their emblem or name was engraved in a gemstone and set in an elaborate relief. Egyptians always kept this piece of jewelry on their person, if not actually worn on a finger, ready for use or to authenticate documents at any time. The design of ancient Egyptian signet rings inspired similar pieces in cultures throughout Africa, Asia and Europe for centuries.
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