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Susa Pearls -- Oldest Pearl Necklace Susa Pearl Necklace from Before Christ The necklace of Susa pearls is at the bottom of the above photo. It was at the Persian Gallery in Louvre museum about 1908, but when I visited the Louvre in 2006, I was unable to locate it there, maybe I didn't look hard enough. I really wanted to see it! There is no record as to when the first pearl necklace was strung, nor is there a definite record of the first use of silk fo restringing a necklace. The earliest illustration that is available of the use of pearls in the form of a necklace is the one found at Susa, in which the Susa pearls were secured with gold. This Syrian necklace, dating about one or two centuries before Christ, was strung by means of a bronze wire. This necklace is one of the most interesting of all ancient pearl necklaces, containing more pearls than any other that has been found, and in a better state of preservation. It consists of three rows, each containing 72 pearls, so that there are 216 in all. Ten gold bars, formed of three small disks, each about five millimeters in diameter, divide the necklace into nine equal sections; at each end there is a disk, ten millimeters in diameter, to which the three strands are secured. If there was any other setting, it has evidently disappeared, although it is quite possible that there may only have been a string at each end, as in the East Indian necklaces. This ornament was found on the site of the ancient Susa or Shushan by M.J. de Morgan, February 10, 1901, in a bronze sarophagus, which contained the skeleton of a woman, adorned with a great numeber of gold ornaments set and incrusted with precious stones. M. de Morgan give circa 350 B.C. as the probably date of thse objects. This date falls near to when Queen Esther lived in Susa. It certainly sounds like it was a queenly person in the sarcophagus. To learn more about Queen Esther you will enjoy the recent movie called, "A Night With the King." The pearls were much deteriorated. About 238 were found but many of them crumbled away when they were touched. M. de Morgan considered that the necklace was of the type of the "dog-collar" of today, and he believed that it originally comprised from 400 to 500 pearls. Purchase Kari's PearlsDrop Pearl Necklaces Bridesmaid Jewelry*Child Pearls* Peach Pearls* White Pearls KariPearls Gift Certificates
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