Natural Jewelry–Is there any other kind?

Today, I have a small thought about jewelry.

I have always found it amazing that jewelry always seems to start out with stuff that people collect from the ground or from stuff they used another way.  For instance, the bone and tooth used in the necklaces above were probably an afterthought from what was originally intended to be a meal.  The leather is the same way, though, now and again, I suppose someone might have hunted as a way of keeping warm–the food was not likely wasted.

Modern jewelry is based on similar things–where did people get gold and precious stones before we started mining them?  The ground–probably picked up because it was shiny.  Diamonds, rubies, saphires, emeralds, crystals–I think we forget that they’re just rocks that someone cut into a shape and made into jewelry.  Gold, silver, iron, and other metals were just minerals that somone found out how to use after they picked it up off of the ground.

So, I guess the moral of the story is that we should all look at our feet as we walk, and stop smelling roses.