gems, ancient jewelry, ancient gems, ancient trade, commerce, ancient jewelry technology, ancient goldsmithing, anthropology

While ancient jewelry is visually captivating, it poses considerable challenges to scholarly interpretation. Long marginalized in ancient cultural studies, adornment resists analytical methods typically applied to architecture and art, due in part to its elusive “context of original intention”—most often the living body it adorned. As a highly portable and valuable asset, jewelry moves easily between generations, geographies, and social contexts, often hidden in hoards or carried during crises. While rarely abandoned, it does appear in graves and sometimes in ritual foundation deposits. Yet unless explicitly funerary, its archaeological context is often chronologically and geographically distant from its original maker and wearer. Nevertheless, controlled excavations can reveal important clues about cross-cultural exchange, technological development, protective or symbolic functions, and the role of jewelry in shaping gender, religious, social, and cultural identities. This review article examines the complexities of interpreting ancient jewelry within archaeological contexts, particularly focusing on the Masterpieces of Ancient Jewelry exhibition at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. It highlights the challenges posed by the lack of contextual information and authenticity for many pieces in museum collections, resulting from their acquisition through 19th and early 20th-century collection practices. The author argues for a more transparent engagement with visitors regarding these issues to encourage informed interpretations, rather than merely aesthetic appreciation of the items.