Ancient Egyptians and Jewelry

The recent discovery of thousands of Egyptian mummies in a network of tombs reinforces the fact that Egyptians were obsessed with dressing the mummies in the proper clothing and jewelry to prepare them for their trip to the underworld.

Egyptian burial sites have provided knowledge about the history and use of beads in ancient civilizations because so much beaded material has survived in their sarcophagi. Much of this jewelry was too fragile to have been worn, but has survived because it was made specifically for use in the other world.

Egyptians practiced pantheism and also believed that the naturalistic likeness of a deceased person or creature in the form of a statue or painting contained the ka, or actual life-force, of that individual.

The Egyptian civilization was a peaceful one — they were protected by the surrounding desert, yet the annual flooding of the Nile ensured that crops would flourish.

For example, children wore fish amulets to protect them from drowning.

The Ba bird, a statue of a person with huge outstretched wings, represents the soul of the dead.

The scarab or beetle signified rebirth, creation, and power. The bottom of the beetle was inscribed with a person’s name. This led to the development of the signet ring.

Horus, the sky god, was a falcon wearing a double crown. Often only the eye of horus is shown on an amulet or carving.

Egyptians shaped jewelry into many different creatures such as snakes, birds, horses, monkeys and apes, frogs, pelicans, rams, or spiders. Each shape represented a specific type of power or idea.

Palm branches symbolized millions of years.

The basket symbolized royal power.

The patroness of birth is Toerris, the hippopotamus goddess.

Anubis, the jackal, was another symbol of royal power.

Osiris was the great god of the underworld; Isis was his wife, and her son was Horus-the-child.

Thoth was the god of wisdom. His sacred animals were the ibis and the baboon.

Astarte was the goddess of love and war, often depicted on horseback.

Egyptians wore rings with large bezels containing cartouches with symbolic meanings.

Much of the jewelry found in Egyptian tombs was made of faience, a vitreous (glass) paste which when fired turned a beautiful blue-green. Many pieces were made from gold worked in complex designs. Egyptians also used semiprecious stones such as agate, carnelian, quartz, lapis, and some of the jaspers. They were quite sophisticated in the jewelry fabrication techniques they used.

Statues and drawings from the early Egyptians are naturalistic, depicting facial features and body types exactly as they were. Most of the statues wear some type of jewelry, and we know that both men and women pierced their ears.