Earrings are a form of body modification and unbelievably it’s been around for 4000 years. We know this because according to paintings on the walls, Persian warriors had earrings and these paintings date back to 2000 B.C. and are the earliest recordings of earrings seen on humanoids. Other ancient civilisations like the Mayans also had ears and other parts of their bodies modified.

Why did these civilizations have earrings? Did people thousands of years ago want to make a fashion statement? They probably didn’t care about the looks of the piercings. According to records and people that studied history, these accessories were made for other reasons.Ancient tribes believed there were evil spirits that could enter through the ear. Metals would prevent this from happening.

Men also believed that the metals would improve their eyesight. This was a common reason for sailors through centuries to get an earring. After B.C. there were a lot of sailors that were religious. The life on the sea could be tough and they knew this. Because they wanted a proper burial if something happened to them and washed on shore somewhere, they took gold earrings which would allow their finders to get a proper burial for them.

It wasn’t till halfway through the 20th century that people started to wear earrings as an accessory mainly for the looks and to make statements. People, especially women, were getting piercings done. However, they didn’t have professional piercers that we can find today. Groups of friends were piercing each other’s ears. Hippies and gay people were also expressing themselves by getting themselves ear holes in the 60’s and 70’s. By the 80’s one could already get pierced in department stores or other facilities by nurses.

During and after the 80’s earrings quickly gained popularity among both women and men. Many different types of jewellery were designed. Pearl earrings and silver earrings continue to gain popularity.  In time people became more open to different kinds of ear piercings which also allowed for even more different kinds of jewellery.

Today you will be able to find thousands of different earrings and nine different kinds of piercings. All in all, an earring can be taken to match someone’s style and one can change freely between different kinds of jewelry to match different outfits. This is also great if somebody gets a bit bored with one type of earring because it can be replaced with a totally different earring within a minute.

Earrings have come a long way through time. They were used for a specific purpose or for superstition in the past and today they are only worn as jewellery or to make a statement.