Inca Jewelry

The inca jewelry was use in daily basis by the royal blood families, authorities of the kingdom and the inca ruler it self; The common citizens were using their gold and jewelry artifacts only for special celebrations and religious activities; The incas jewelry was develop from the daily use elements, with applications of gold and gemstones to make it special.

A good example of common incas jewelry are the sandals, originally made from leather of llama, braided fiber and other materials; The incas found the way to decorate a common sandals with precious results, some of this gold sandals has been found in tombs and they are expose to the public in museums.

The bangles were use by everyone in the incas society, they were made of gold, colorful braided fibers, good luck seeds call huairuro and other materials; The bangles made of gold were create for two reasons, as part of the inca jewelry outfit for day use and for religious ceremonies.

The incas ear rings define the social status of an inca citizen; The new conquered cultures were not aloud to wear ear rings, only the inca government authorities could aloud the use of ear rings; They were heavy pieces of gold, that stretch their ear lobes so much, that some times their ear lobes could touch their shoulders.

The golden chest apron was joined together on the shoulders and it was tie on the sides with textiles, some of them protect the entire thorax; They were a remarkable piece of jewelry, as well they were use as an armor for the inca warriors, made it in copper with an internal layer of llama leather to protect the skin.

The crowns were a common piece in the inca clothing outfit, they were made of llama leather, textiles and gold; The difference was in the meaning of the crown, some of them make difference of social status, military level or government authority, but all of them were mainly decorated with feathers; The inca king gold crown was an important piece of the inca king jewelry outfit.

The incas made necklaces from seed, gemstones, sea shells, leather, braided textiles, gold and everything else that they believe that was pretty enough to decorate them selfs; The inca jewelry artisans dedicate their life to find out new ways to wear more gold; In the case of the inca royalty, the golden necklaces were huge and quite heavy, for sure they were not comfortable at all.

The cnemis protections were made from copper and they were exclusively part of the inca warriors armor, but because in the incas empire the show up of the quantity of gold in your body improve your social status, they were made in gold as well, just to cover your body with the biggest amount of gold possible.

The nose rings and the falconry made of gold was quite important in the inca jewelry outfit, they were design for special celebrations, burial ceremonies and religious purposes; They were not use by the common inca citizen, some of the nose rings were large circular plaques of inca gold, attach to the nose by pressure.

The incas concept of gold is not like ours, they believe that the gold was the male image of their god; The gold did not have any monetary value exchange, it did not mean that you are more rich or more poor; The incas believe that wear gold inca jewelry mean, that you are bless by the inca gods more than the others..

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