It might come as a surprise that humans have been making jewelry since the Stone Age. The earliest pieces of jewelry discovered coincide with the transition from nomadic roamer to settled villager, roughly 100,000 years ago. It’s safe to assume that the introduction of jewelry into our collective history reflects a significant shift in human consciousness. By examining early jewelry, its materials and uses, we can learn a lot about our ancestors and the evolutionary steps that made us who we are today.