Of all the creatures in the animal kingdom, only humans seek to adorn themselves. Even as far in the past as the primitive man, jewelry took on this role in a variety of forms. Throughout human history, jewelry has existed as an integral form of expression, wealth and social status.
Evolving Functions of Jewelry
Closely related to the human need of ornamentation, was the use of jewelry as amulets gifted with magical powers, or jewelry used as gifts for the maintenance of religious worship. The first jeweler was the metal worker, who later in time introduced small stones in his metal ornaments to make jewels more beautiful.
Soon jewelry advanced from a simple ornamental or amulet stance to a more practical one. Jewels became used as a symbol of rank, wealth and social standing. That is when they became an investment of marketable value.
The three basic roles that jewelry has played, the ornament, the amulet and the symbol of wealth, have remained constant to the present time.

Egyptian Jewelry
Many consider the period of Egyptian jewelry as the beginning of our modern form of jewelry. It was during this time that the manufacturing of jewelry became a profession and techniques and skills evolved. The primary purpose of jewelry for Egyptian was to act as amulets and talismans; their first known use was to wrap them in with mummies as guardians or protectors of the dead. This then spread to the protection of the living. They used gemstones, metal and gold because of their colors, for example Green jasper was an assurance of rain, Egyptian beliefs stipulated that every gemstone carried certain mystical powers which could be transferred to the owner when worn as jewelry.

Examples of Egyptian jewelry:

The pectoral > breast ornament suspended from the neck by a ribbon or chain, referred to as “portable shrines for the gods”, made of bronze and covered