A Brief History of Mourning Jewelry
People have always needed to somehow maintain the spirit of loved ones even after their physical absence, so throughout history various ingenious ways of accomplishing that have emerged. As long as humans have been around, they have found ways of remembering and honoring those who have gone before, first on cave walls and probably other less permanent ways as well. When man's understanding of his environment and resources increased to the point where he could use materials to create lasting impressions of departed loved ones, he began to create mourning jewelry.Earliest examples of mourning jewelryLiterally thousands of years ago, man began using a semi-precious mineraloid called jet, which is comprised of decayed wood under extreme pressure for eons, resulting in a very hard dark brown or black stone. The jet deposits around Whitby, England for instance were formed almost 200 million years ago. Jet was recognized for its shiny brilliance and suitability for carving…
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