Earrings are among the oldest type of human decoration. Much of their style has been based around the clothing fashions of the day, and hoop earrings – especially gold hoops – have survived the test of time.

Since earliest antiquity, both men and women have worn them: at a 6500-year-old burial site in Bulgaria, when the skeleton of a powerful man was unearthed, he was found to have a lot of golden treasure, including many gold hoop earrings. Likewise, people across ancient Mesopotamia wore them, including Sumerian women, ancient Assyrians and the biblical Canaanites.

This simple, classic design was soon adopted by other cultures and was even sported in Europe by 1000 BCE. Persian soldiers at Persepolis had their hoop earrings on while in uniform and carrying their weapons. The European Celts, Pre-Columbian Indians, and even marauding Caribbean pirates wore them.

Whether hoops are thin or thick, made with gold, silver or some other metal, they have remained in vogue throughout time and all around the world. Men’s hoops today are generally thinner, subtler, and loop close and tight to the earlobe whereas women’s are often larger, thicker, and showier. Hoops come in small, medium, large, and extra large sizes, and they still remain fashionably fabulous.

- Photo by Kevin Schumacher/GIA, gift of Toby Pomeroy

‘Dangles’ and ‘drops’ are terms that refer to earrings that hang below the earlobe.

They may have evolved through early adaptations of the hoop earring: some of the oldest known dangles are odd-shaped, elongated hoops – called the ‘leech’ shape, they hang like stretched ovals and have a thicker layer of gold at the bottom. These leech styles were worn 3,000 years ago in ancient Greece. At that same time, the Greeks were also adapting their simple gold hoops by wearing a decorative pendant on them, which ‘dropped’ below the hoop.

Across the Mediterranean Sea in an area known as the Levant, where Israel is today, ladies were also wearing modified hoops that dropped in a long oval shape and were decorated at the bottom with simpler natural motifs, such as grape clusters and flower buds. Ancient Persia adopted this decorative dangle but enhanced theirs with ornate gold beadwork, artistic bells, and colorful gemstones such as garnet and turquoise.

As time went on, drop earrings took on many shapes and were set with all kinds of gems: the Byzantines made theirs from sheet gold that was stamped and cut into many shapes, including peacocks, which were one of their favorite symbols. Further East in Iran, they used animal themes, too, but they often mixed flowers and calligraphy into their designs as well, which made their earrings extremely ornate. Their craftsmen used lots of gold wire and filigree. Sometimes, they added a gemstone such as red garnet for a splash of color.

Over the years, this style of earring has become more artistic: talented jewelers have decorated them with carved cameos, sculpted human and animal figures, painted miniature portraits, and sparkling faceted jewels. These fun earrings can hang fairly close to the ear or drop all the way to the shoulder; but one thing they all have in common is that they’re designed to drop below the earlobe so that they might dazzle and shimmer as they swing freely.

- Photo by Shane F. McClure/GIA, courtesy Gemstones and Fine Jewelry Co.

Chandelier earrings are long and cascade down beside the neck, hanging like a multi-tiered chandelier. Typically, they’re crafted with many long straight links or many levels of sideways-connected decorations and draping swags. Some can appear much like a miniature festoon necklace.

This dramatic style has been around since antiquity: King Tut had a pair of colorful early-style chandeliers in his tomb, and the ladies of ancient Greece wore theirs made from elaborately crafted gold and colored enamel. This design has been popular throughout history and all around the world. Even the pre-Columbian natives of Central America, the Mixtecs, wore golden chandeliers made from a combination of gold dangle chains, carved emblems, and animal figurines.

Today’s chandelier earrings are created in a variety of shapes and lengths; and they can dazzle spectacularly with diamonds and jewels, or they can be playful while set with colored glass and faceted crystals. Simple or extremely ornate, they remain stylish and on trend in today’s jewelry wardrobe.

- Photo by Don Mengason/GIA, gift of Leslie Weinberg Designs

Earrings today usually decorate the earlobes; but ear cuffs and wraps can grip anywhere on the ear…and sometimes they cover the entire ear.

They are designed to wrap around the upper and inner ears by clinging to the folds of skin and cartilage. Because of their special designs and tight grip, the wearer may not need pierced ears; and sometimes, if the wrap is designed for the upper ear, another earring may be worn through a pierced earlobe as a compliment to the wrap.

Cuffs and wraps are created in all kinds of shapes, from animals to leaves to abstract art, and their purpose is to decorate the ear above the lobe. Ear cuffs can be as simple as thin hoops that adorn a small area of skin, whereas wraps are typically much bolder and dramatically cover a larger portion of the ear. Some wraps may be made only of metal, and some may be set with gemstones or draped in chains.

Both cuffs and wraps have become trendy fashion statements in recent years although the idea of encircling the entire ear in pretty ornaments is not a new one: some United States indigenous American cultures, such as the Sauk and Pawnee, were known to deck their ears from top to bottom in jewelry. They even connected some of the lower earrings to the upper ones with decorative strands of beads. Chief Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe, often posed for formal portraits with both of his ears fully attired in earrings.

- Photo by Robert Weldon/GIA, courtesy Wallace Chan Co.