first materials used to make objects for personal adornment were taken from the animal and vegetable world. The material taken from the animal world, in a natural or processed form, constituted the actual adornment, whereas vegetable fibres served as its support. A great variety of shells and pieces of shell were used during the prehistoric age and are still used in certain island and coastal cultures to make necklaces, bracelets, pendants, and headdresses. In the inland regions the first materials used for personal adornment came from mammoths’ tusks, the horns of reindeer and other animals, and, later on, amber and lignite. All materials that have been used over the centuries for the manufacture of jewelry have undergone to some extent mechanical, physical, or chemical treatment for the purpose of transforming their raw shapes into shapes that, in addition to being functional, also satisfy certain aesthetic concepts.