(a) / Namio Egami collection, Department of Archaeology of Western Asia, UMUT

Early ornaments were manufactured with materials available in nature, notably precious stones, shells, and ivory. From the Neolithic period onwards, artificial materials started being used for making ornaments. The newer materials included ceramic and metal. Faience was one of these, and was unique and popular in the ancient civilizations of the Middle East. It was a type of ceramic, often greenish–blue in color, made not from clay but from crushed quartz or sand. The development of technology with respect to faience appears to have lead to the production of glass later.

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