Ancient jewellery: Syria

Jewellery history of the Levant

Ancient jewellery from Syria

Published Feb 2, 2025

When we think about the history of jewellery, Syria offers some of the richest finds in the region. From the earliest shell beads along the Euphrates to the magnificent adornment on Palmyra’s funerary busts, jewellery has been a constant presence in Syrian history. It tells us about daily life, trade connections, and cultural identity across thousands of years.

In this post, I’ll explore the role of ancient Syrian jewellery in different eras: from Bronze Age tombs at Ebla and Ugarit, to Roman-era sites such as Dura Europos, and into the splendour of medieval goldsmithing in Raqqa.

This blog is part of my Ancient Jewellery series, exploring how adornment shaped identity across the Middle East and Mediterranean. You can also read about ancient jewellery from Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and more to come!

Early jewellery history of Syria: shell beads & adornment

The geographical area which is now Syria is, historically, part of the larger Syro-Palestinian cultural sphere. Like in many other regions, shell beads are among the oldest forms of personal adornment in Syria.

In southwestern Syria, shell beads from three archaeological sites in the foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range tell us more about the importance of personal adornment at the end of the Paleolithic, some 11,000 years ago.

A rock shelter at Baaz, and two caves at Kozah and Ain Dabbour yielded large quantities of shell beads. These were not simply made of leftover shells after food production: analysis has shown the majority of the shells came from the Mediterranean, some 90 kilometres and two mountain ranges away!

Bronze Age jewellery in Syria: Ebla and the Euphrates

Syria is home to some of the earliest farming communities on the banks of the river al-Furat, or Euphrates. Here, settlements developed into true city-states, and by 3,500 BCE current Tell Mardikh was the seat of one of these internationally orientated kingdoms: Ebla. The kingdom traded with Cyprus, Egypt, Afghanistan and Sumer in current-day Iraq, which is clearly visible from the archives excavated in the city.

What we also learn from the archives is the value of precious commodities such as personal adornment. Daggers, their belts and the connecting suspension hooks seem to have been worn as status symbol and as carrier of identity, a practice reminiscent of the Omani and Yemeni jambiya or khanjar. Ornamental discs of silver or gold, inlaid with precious stones, were as common as bracelets, which are described as having eagle-headed terminals.

What is even more fascinating is the glimpse of a redistribution economy the archives offer: jewellery is regularly melted down in exchange for other pieces. One example mentions the melting of three silver bracelets to obtain three decorative discs in low-grade gold.

Beads and jewellery of Bronze Age Syria: Ugarit and Qatna

The royal tombs of Ebla contained gold jewellery, which was also found in the city of Ugarit in modern-day Ras Shamra. Here, goldsmiths employed filigree and granulation, as can be seen on the pair of crescent earrings shown above: a type that is still current in Syria today. In northern Syria, burials such as found at Tell Sabi Abyad show a wide variety in jewellery: bracelets and anklets in bronze, gold, or even iron, hairpins and combs, necklaces, pendants and beads of stone, glass, faience, shell and gold.

The length and width of the trade networks is demonstrated by the royal tomb at Qatna, current-day Tell Mishrife, where amber beads were identified as coming from the Baltic area. Interestingly, this tomb also contained various beads and pendants of a blue-greenish material set in gold: instead of turquoise, this is variscite, which apparently was valued for its close resemblance to turquoise.

Dura Europos and Syrian jewellery in the Roman world

In the utmost east of Syria, on the banks of the Euphrates, a city was built by the Seleucids around 300 BCE. It was conquered by the Romans in the 2^nd century CE, and finally destoyed by the Sassanids in the 3^rd century. Called Dura Europos, this was a cosmopolitan city with temples for Graeco-Roman, Mesopotamian and Persian gods as well as a church and a synagogue.

Throughout the city, jewellery was found during excavations: lost pieces or treasures stashed away in hoards. Besides these actual pieces, the city also has numerous wall paintings showing how jewellery and dress were worn. Here, we find Roman fibulae or clothing pins indicating a strong military presence, and key-shaped rings. These were used as actual keys and are therefore very telling items: they clearly signal the wearer owned valuable items.

Silver rings with intaglios in semiprecious stones or glass show the variety of the Graeco-Roman pantheon, and bracelets with terminals in the shape of snake-heads are reminiscent of bracelets as they are still worn today.

Palmyra jewellery: funerary busts and cultural identity

In the Roman city of Palmyra, elite ladies had themselves portrayed on funerary busts. These show a mixture of Roman, Persian and Indian jewellery styles and clothing and served to show the considerable wealth of the inhabitants of the city.

These busts were originally painted in bright colours, which gives us an idea of the splendor worn. They also form an interesting way of expressing identity. While in other parts of the Roman Empire women would not be shown wearing large quantities of jewellery to underscore their feminine virtues, in Palmyra the opposite was true: the more jewellery, the more honourable the lady wearing it. Here, we see how local forms of expression are used to convey similar concepts.

Medieval Syrian goldsmithing: Raqqa and the Fatimid period

During the Middle Ages, Raqqa was an important center for goldsmithing. Many jewellery pieces from the Fatimid dynasty (909-1171) have been created either in Egypt or Syria: the difference is indistinguishable. The jewellery of this period is exceptionally finely made, using wire filigree and granulation. Not much of it survived, as it was mostly melted down in later periods. The openwork filigree of the Fatimids continued to be produced under the Ottomans, albeit less delicate and in completely different shapes, and so continued into the traditional jewellery of our time.

Ancient jewellery of Syria: heritage and preservation

The story of ancient jewellery in Syria spans millennia. Shell beads from the Euphrates show how even the simplest ornaments carried meaning. Bronze Age sites such as Ebla and Ugarit reveal jewellery as a marker of wealth and ritual. Palmyra’s busts preserve a vivid record of local jewellery styles, while finds from Dura Europos place Syria in the wider Roman world. In the medieval period, Raqqa’s workshops highlight Syria’s role as a centre of fine goldsmithing.

Taken together, these finds show that jewellery in Syria was never just about adornment. It was a language of identity, status, and belief — and one that continues to connect us to the people of the past. By tracing Syria’s jewellery from beads to busts and beyond, we see how deeply woven adornment is into the story of human culture.

The many years of devastating war in Syria have not only destroyed the age-old suqs, but also severely impacted older heritage. Museums have been looted and are slowly beginning to be rebuilt where possible. Jewellery forms part of the millennia old heritage of a country where civilization began: keeping this heritage alive has never more been important and urgent than it is now.

More jewellery from Syria? You might also like Silversmiths of Deir ez-Zor

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References

This is an updated, adapted and expanded version of a blog I wrote earlier for the Zay Initiative.

Abe, Y. et al. 2019. Use of variscite as a gemstone in the Late Bronze Age Royal Tomb at Qatna, Syria, in: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 27, 1-6

Düring, B., E. Visser & P. Akkermans 2015. Skeletons in the fortress: the Late Bronze Age burials of Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, in: Levant 47:1, 30-50

Fortin, M. (ed) 1999. Syria. Land of Civilizations. Les Éditions de l’Homme

Kaizer, T. (ed) 2016. Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos. Cambridge University Press.

Kalter, J. 1992. The Arts and Crafts of Syria, Edition Hansjörg Mayer, Stuttgart/London

Kandel, A.W. et al 2017. Epipaleolithic shell beads from Damascus Province, Syria, in: Quaternary International 464, 126-140

Klaver, S. 2019. Women in Roman Syria. The cases of Dura-Europos, Palmyra and Seleucia on the Euphrates. PhD-thesis, University of Amsterdam

Maiocchi, M. 2010. Decorative parts and precious artifacts at Ebla, in: Journal of Cuneiform Studies 62, 1-24

Mukherjee, A. et al. 2008. The Qatna lion: scientific confirmation of Baltic amber in Late Bronze Age Syria, in: Antiquity 82, pp. 49-59

Prévalet, R. 2009. Preliminary observation on three Late Bronze Age gold items from Ras Shamra (Ugarit), in: ArcheoSciences 33. Access this publication here.

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