made from red ocher or henna combined with animal fat,
which was applied to fi ngernails and toenails as well. Cos-
metic containers and spoons were made of faience, glass,
stone, clay, and wood in whimsical shapes and varying sizes.
One popular form for the spoons had the body of a slen-
der young woman as the handle. Cosmetics were mixed and
ground on pa lettes that were frequent ly decorated in play f ul
animal shapes.
Ancient Egypt is renowned for the colorful and fi nely
craft ed jewelry that was placed on images of deities and worn
by royalty; men, women, and children all wore jewelry. Jewel-
r y came in a variet y of forms, such as rings, bangles, hairpins,
arm cuff s, earrings, amulets, and beads. Th e high quality of
the semiprecious stones and craft smanship signaled the so-
cial class and wealth of its wearer. Jewelry was also traded and
given for diplomatic reasons and to appease and infl uence the
public, such as when the rulers Akhenaten (or Ikhnaton) and
Nefertiti of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1307 b.c.e.) threw
jewelry down from the Window of Appearances, the central
palace window from which the pharaoh would greet his court
and foreign visitors. Jewelry was present in predynastic and
early dynastic times, as evidenced, for example, by the brace-
lets from King Djer’s (r. third century b.c.e.) tomb at Abydos
as well as a type of pendant that was worn mostly by offi cials
in the Old Kingdom (ca. 2575-2134 b.c.e.).
It is no secret that the ancient Egyptians favored gold.
For those who could not aff ord gold, craft smen used the pro-
cess of gilding to make objects like faience, wood, and ste-
atite look like gold. Silver was not found in such abundance
and had to be imported from the Near East and Aegean. Th e
semiprecious stones used included turquoise, lapis lazuli,
carnelian, amazonite, amethyst, malachite, calcite, obsidian,
hematite, red and green jasper, and serpentine. Th ese stones
were used to fashion beads, amulets, pendants, and inlay pec-
torals. Glass, however, was not manufactured until the New
Kingdom (aft er ca. 1550 b.c.e.). Faience was very popular for
its malleability, color variation, and glazed appearance. Jew-
elry also featured fl owers, shells, seeds, and ivory. A standard
combination of red, green, and blue had arisen for royal jew-
elry in the Old Kingdom, but other members of society ex-
perimented throughout the rest of the pharaonic period (ca.
332 b.c.e.) with diff erent colors and styles. A set of standard
visual archetypes and designs crystallized in the Old King-
dom, such as the bee and falcon, lotus and papyrus, and text
that would usually be a name of a king or deity accompanied
by hieroglyphic signs.
Jewelry fulfi lled more than an aesthetic function, as
amulets were thought to provide good health, good luck, and
stability in this life and the next. Most jewelry was believed
to magically protect parts of the body. Perhaps the most
phenomenal examples of jewelry from ancient Egypt come
from the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2040–1640 b.c.e.) burials of
the princesses Sithathoriunet (at Illahun) and Sithathor and
Mereret (at Dahshur), which showcase a variety of bracelets
and collars along with an exquisite gold diadem.
THE MIDDLE EAST
BY TOM STREISSGUTH
In prehistoric times the Mesopotamians were farmers and
herders living in the fertile plains between the Tigris and Eu-
phrates rivers. Th eir attire was simple and unadorned by jew-
elry and other personal eff ects. As the fi rst cities were raised
in Sumer (ca. 3000 b.c.e.), in southern Mesopotamia, trade
with outsiders along the rivers and seacoasts allowed the im-
port of stone and metal, resources not found in the region,
and the gathering of wealth and possessions that marked high
status. Social divisions emerged, while a centralized govern-
ment gave rise to an aristocracy surrounding the kings and
the priesthood. High status was shown by wearing more elab-
orate, ceremonial clothing decorated with embroidery and
fringe and tassels at the neck and bottom hem and dyed with
bright colors mixed from minerals and oil. Precious stones
sometimes were woven into the clothing; in ceremony men of
high status also carried swords, seals, and staff s, symbols of
their authority.
Th roughout Mesopotamia a great variety of personal
adornments has been found in excavated cities, settlements,
and graves. Th e most common item is a small bead, of clay,
shell, or stone, which was strung onto leather and used in
adornments of the head and neck, or sewn direct ly into cloth-
ing or footwear. Mesopotamian artisans developed great skill
in drilling and stringing beads, even in the hardest stones and
densest metals. Bead strings were the earliest mark of status
and are commonly found in the most ancient gravesites and
settlements of the Middle East. Th ey oft en were used as a me-
dium of exchange; in this time before the minting of coins,
beads could be collected on their strings and easily unstrung
or attached as people bought and sold their food and house-
hold goods.
Th e Mesopotamians also used pins and brooches to fas-
ten clothing about the shoulders. (Th e most common item
of clothing was a long mantle that hung from the neck and
shoulders and was fastened on the left side of the body, leav-
ing the right arm free.) Artisans worked these pins into long
cylinders with one end shaped into a spherical head. Hairpins
made of fl attened and rolled metal were used to decorate the
hair and hold plaits and braids on top of the head, a favored
style. Small rings of metal were suspended from the hair locks
and plaits. Headbands made of t hin meta l, some of simple de-
sign and some very elaborate, were worn around the forehead
and tied in the back with a thin cord of string or leather. Roy-
alty wore crowns worked in silver and gold, which covered
the sides and back of the head like a fi nely woven metal hel-
met. Unadorned and undressed hair was a mark of the lower
classes and slaves.
Men and women of the upper classes wore a great num-
ber of personal adornments, including amulets, ankle brace-
lets, necklaces, earrings, and seals. Artisans decorated these
pieces with precious stones, including obsidian, turquoise,
shell, serpentine, agate, jasper, and carnelian, a stone im-6 adornment: The Middle East