A Brief History of Earrings
It is strange that people will put precious metals or gems in their ears. It’s not a bad idea, just strange. Who thought of that idea?
Pet Theories
My fantasy is that earrings were created by the same group of brave individuals who found unexpected connections. Perhaps a caveman made jewelry out of fish bones. Perhaps his cave girl said, “Ya know what?” This will be pinned to my earlobe to enhance my beauty. Jewelry + Ear = Attractiveness. It’s really amazing if you think about it.
The Actual Facts
Unfortunately, we don’t have any historical or theoretical accounts of the first earrings. We do know that earrings and the practice piercing were both extremely ancient. As biblical old. Aaron tells the Israelites in the Exodus story to take off their gold earrings and bring them to him. He then makes a golden calf from them.
“Aaron! I took you out of charge for about two minutes.”
Although it’s not clear when, or even if what happened to the exodus, scholars can trace the story back to the post-exile period (538–332 BCE). However earlier versions can still be found in the writings of 8th century prophets. Earrings are, in the end, very old.
These earrings were also worn by men mainly, which is not surprising considering that men were the main holders of wealth throughout history. Wall carvings and archeological evidence suggest that earrings were worn by Persian men in Persepolis (550–335 BCE).
Silver earrings sold with Ibex from Ancient Persia
Earrings were also worn by the Ancient Egyptians. The British Museum holds gold earrings made from Egypt that date back to the 19 th Dynasty (1200–1200 BC). Tomb paintings also show women and men wearing earrings in the New Kingdom era (1550–1070 BC). Some archeologists believe that earrings were worn mostly by children as shown by the earrings found in the tombs and thrones of child kings.
Egyptian earring dating back to the 19th Dynasty.
Earrings were in fashion throughout Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. They were sometimes worn by courtiers as a sign of their wealth. Sometimes earrings were worn only by the lowest classes. The Church seemed to have some ideological differences about the piercings of ears. This was because it challenged the dogma that human beings shouldn’t alter bodies made in God’s image.
In order to pay for a Christian burial, sailors wore gold earrings in order to protect their bodies from being washed up on the shore after a shipwreck. Although it was a Christian tradition, this tradition can be traced back to the placing of a gold penny under the tongue of a loved one to pay Charon for passage across Styx.
More Modern Times
In accordance with women’s fashions, earrings were in and out of style in the 17th, 18th and the 19th centuries. In the 18 th century for example, women wore big bonnets to cover their ears. Earrings became fashionable again after women started to wear their hair down in the 19 th century. In the 19 thcentury, England was ruled by Victorian morals and piercing became a vulgar practice.
Ear piercing was not a popular practice in America until the 1950s. Earrings were uncouth for the first half of the 20 th century. However, the clip-on variety was more popular. In the film Grease,Sandy gets her ears pierced in part by her friends who are not as good as her. This was a clear sign of how “good girls” have changed.
The popularity of ear-piercing has led to a huge market for earrings . This allows for a greater variety of design options. Although cartilage piercing is less common than standard ear piercing, it has become increasingly popular.
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