How Long Have Pearls Been Around

[Marcus Wall]

Does anyone really know how long pearls have been around? I read online that people were buried with pearls more than 6,000 years ago in the Persian Gulf Region. If pearls are organic won't the just turn to dust eventually? Do they petrify?

 

[TahitiPearlImport]

I have heard the same thing regarding the Persians and pearls. I have also heard, however, that the Chinese were harvesting pearls as early as 4000 BC. And that the were actually culturing blister pearls nearly as long ago. But I am not positive. I am going to pull out my GIA pearls course book tomorrow to see if I can find the answer to that one...

 

[Ngoc]

I actually understood that the Chinese started culturing blister pearls around 2000 BC. I am not for postive however. I do remember that they were making the blister pearls with the different shapes like Buddha. Someone should just google it! But then it would be Internet pearl information and maybe not correct. Send email to GIA

 

[purepearls]

No one knows exactly when or where the pearl was discovered. There are claims that pearls were around long before recorded history most likely by someone searching for food. It is likely that pearls were highly revered from the very onset of discovering pearls because of their inherent beauty. Pearls are believed to truly be the very first gem meaning it was the first jewel that was highly prized. Recordings from ancient history allude to pearls association with virtuous acts. In recorded history, pearls were given to emperors as gifts in times as far back as 2206 B.C. A Confucian ode was written that "If in life you gave no alms, In death how do you deserve a pearl?"

I think it is amazing how one small object can transcend time and cultures...the pearl is truly an amazing creation.

 

[Kenji]

I think Mother of Pearl is probably the oldest. I have read that Mother of Pearl was found in the ruins of Bismaya. This dates back to about 4500 BC. I am reading a history book now about pearls and if I learn anything else I will post it here!

 

[abdalla]

5000 BC down here

5000 BC down here

they found a line of pearls in a grave in Sharjah, united Arab Emirates dating to 5000 BC from Arabian Gulf waters, its in the Sharjah history museum, sharjah United Arab Emirates. i have a photo of it if any one intrestd.

Take care

 

[pearltime]

If it's convenient I'd like to see it,Abdalla.

 

[jshepherd]

Would love to see it. Is it a published photo? Do you have a high-res photo (300 dpi) that we can use?

 

[abdalla]

this is the place

this is the place

http://www.shjmuseum.gov.ae/museums/arch/Default.htm

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

If anyone does not have the Biik Pearls a Natural history Check the Field Museum of Chicago website they have pictures of some fossilized pearls. The Field Museum worked with the AMNH to create the Pearls exhibit...

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/pearls/gallery1.html

The Fossilized Pearl is the Picture at the bottom to the left of the Screen....

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Abdallah
If you read this forum much- you know I have ties to Bahrain- and i even have some Bahraini pearls that I have posted pix of on this site. So I love to see you post!
That is the second time you have posted that link in response to requests for pictures. I looked the link over thoroughly, but can't find any pix of pearls- though I love the ancient architecture- it is so much like the adobe ancient homes here in the Southwest US-
Could you please tell me which page the pictures of pearls are on?
#
To the forum in general:
Strack in Pearls(RDV- Stutgart 2006 English Ed) "In 1989 a group of Arabian and English archeologists found a 4mm pearl in the excavation of a Dilmun settlement. The age of the pearl is estimated at 4,000 years and it is regarded today as the oldest known pearl from the Gulf"

Apparently old pearl weight units were also found indicating there was a trade already established....That would indirectly indicate there were pearls far older than this one- but so fa there does not appear to be any direct proof, or Strack would have included it, right?

OK the Challenge is on--Prove Strack wrong!

 

[Caitlin]

The "armchair anthropologist" (me) strikes again

If pearls are organic won't the just turn to dust eventually?

Well, you got the answer of fossilized pearls-which are way older than man's collections and burials. But here are some interesting facts:

gazillions of pearls were found in Mississippi valley burial mounds in the US. Baskets full. These were a couple of thousand to- a couple of hundred years old. They were very degraded by the moisture of the earth. I think dry earth would probably preserve pearls much better but pearls that were not in contact with the earth would last much longer.

But did you know America was the single largest source of pearls in burial mounds? Yes, America is a pearl-loving nation from waaaay back!

Hopewell culture in Iowa:
http://www.state.ia.us/iowahistory/sites/toolsboro/toolesboro_history.html

The Hopewell groups also had an extensive exchange network, indicated by artifacts made from Great Lakes copper, Rocky Mountain obsidian (volcanic glass), marine shells and pearls from the Gulf of Mexico, Appalachian mica, and shark teeth from Chesapeake Bay.

The following is a definitive article:
http://www.thefieldmuseum.com/pearls/midwest2.html

The burial mounds and ceremonial sites they left were excavated in the 19th century by archaeologists who found, to their amazement, vast quantities of pearls?as many as several quarts in a single mound! And all of these pearls came from freshwater mussels found in the tributaries of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. In fact, no ancient region anywhere in the world has yielded more than a fraction of this quantity of pearls.

Kunz and Stevenson 1908 The Book of the Pearl quoted on this page too: ?

In the age of the mound-builders there were as many pearls in the possession of a single tribe of Indians as existed in any European court.?/quote]

(emphases mine) Now, aren't you glad you asked?

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Caitlin,

The Dilmun pearls were rather well described in Geoffrey Bibby's Finding Dilmun including their reference in literature. The big difference to the Hopewell culture is, though, that in the Old World pearls were a very valuable tradeable commodity and thus subject to extensive grave robbing and funerary fudging while the Hopewell culture respected burials somewhat more. Also, the Hopewell people already knew how to make fake pearls akin to Majoricas that were extensively used for personal ornamentation as well as in burials. That kind of brought the trade value for pearls down and made robbing them from graves an economically somewhat less profitable proposition. In contrast, Old World pearl traders never asked too many probing questions about where the pearls they bought originated from. Given their high trade value in the Old World, pearls were also restrung and redesigned into new pieces rather than discarded, which is why so few old pearl pieces remain and why so much of the aristocracy had opulent pearl treasures notwithstanding the fact that they are so rare. Pearls simply last a very long time (unless they are bead nucleated and short-cultured).

Zeide

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Zeide

The big difference to the Hopewell culture is, though, that in the Old World pearls were a very valuable tradeable commodity and thus subject to extensive grave robbing and funerary fudging while the Hopewell culture respected burials somewhat more.

I am thinking about the implications of this phrase- and my comment is an unstudied response. ?Pearls as trade and burial objects in the new world: a study of cultural Values?.? sounds like a PhD thesis, doesn?t it. ? But these comments are far from that-they are just intuitive graspings toward an utterly foreign culture?..

In fact, the pearls seemed to be mainly found in (high status?) graves so, it would appear, that once one of these People got a pearl, they never let it go. That must reflect some kind of important cultural value. To be buried with your treasure instead of trading it, or giving it away- or having it taken away by conquering. It implies that it meant more to the culture to have the pearls buried than in circulation.

Also, the Hopewell people already knew how to make fake pearls akin to Majoricas that were extensively used for personal ornamentation as well as in burials.

That there were fakes must mean there was a big value placed on the originals and also seems to indicate the originals were not available to all?.or that there was another important reason to wear the simulated gems?.


Please elucidate a little more on the fakes- sounds fascinating. Is there an online citation you know of?

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Caitlin,

The fakes were mostly ceramic balls covered in a paste of fish scales, resin and oils that was applied in several layers. These trade beads were in high demand and brought rather good trade revenue. Real pearls were for magic purposes. Ask any Yaqui shaman. Particularly ones with strong orient are used in bracelets to help stop your inner dialogue. Telling any more on a public forum would be improper, though.

Zeide

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Zeide
Without going too far, you did give an excellent reason for the operative values- in which pearls were not an exoteric status symbol, as they are for American culture, but an integral part of the esoteric values. Thanks, as always, for your viewpoint.

 

[WeeGem]

If anyone does not have the Biik Pearls a Natural history Check the Field Museum of Chicago website they have pictures of some fossilized pearls. The Field Museum worked with the AMNH to create the Pearls exhibit...

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/pearls/gallery1.html

The Fossilized Pearl is the Picture at the bottom to the left of the Screen....

The pearl necklace shown is GORGEOUS!