Tips To Choose The Right African Jewelry

To chart the history of African jewelry you have to go back to Namibia 27,000 years ago. In the cave paintings of Namibia you can see the awakening of the artistic man. It took quite a few years from then to about 15,000 years ago when an oval pendant in bone, a piece of antique jewelry, in Tunisia, indicated what was probably the birth of African jewelry.

The earliest materials used in African jewelry making were bones mainly of birds, nuts and seeds. It’s because of the very perishable nature of the materials used in antique jewelry that there is very little of it around as exhibits today.

To be able to choose the right kind of African jewelry you have to know a bit about the various area wise skills both in the crafting of jewelry and the prevailing materials technology in Africa in the early days.

Antique jewelry of Africa indicates that whereas West Africa evolved in brass jewelry, copper was used in most other places and gold in a few like the Akan people. Boat shaped ankle bracelets were used on the Ivory Coast by the Senufo tribe. The married Faluni women from Mali wore gold earrings still considered as works of art. The tribal people of Sudan especially the Nuer and Shilluk tribes and the Dinkya tribe of Kenya used ivory for their jewelry. Italian, Dutch and Czech glass beads were traded for African goods in the 14th till the 20th century. The ancient trade beads, as they were called, are simulated today.

If you visit web sites pertaining to African jewelry a feast for the eyes greets you. There are Fulumi hoop earrings used in Sudan area as daily wear. These are in sterling silver with gilding. There are Akuaba doll earrings signifying fertility still worn in Ghana by the Ashanti tribe. The original dolls were in blackened and polished wood. You can buy Masai Seed Bead bracelet, Kenyan Trade Bead jewelry, Ethiopian Bead necklace or the Glass and Brass necklace from Central Niger done in the Wodaabe style.

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I webmaster of http://www.museumjewellery.com/default.asp?lang=uk. We deal in all types Jewellery, Historical Jewellery,African jewelry, Antique Necklaces, Antique Pendants, Antique Jewellery, Egyptian jewelry,Viking Jewelry,Russian jewelry,Celtic jewelry,French jewelry, African jewelry at very affordable price.

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