Materiais e processos produtivos utilizados no design de joias: análise histórica, evolutiva e comparativa

Abstract

The history of jewelry shows a diverse application of materials that have gone through productive processes based on the experimentation of man using what was available in his context. Prehistoric man used materials available in nature to construct adornments produced with tools developed by himself. The period between 5000 and 4000 b.C marked the use of metals by the man who improved it for application in jewelry based on the ability to produce and manipulate materials. Before using gold and silver to add value to jewelry, non-noble metals such as copper, platinum, and zinc played a pioneering role in jewelry. These previously used materials as a single element in the pieces began to form the alloys of the metals used in the jewelry. With the purpose of analyzing evolutionarily and comparatively the application of these materials, this article outlines its historical trajectory seeking to show the evolution of the processes in the design of jewels until the contemporaneity.