Jewellery of the Berber cultures (

Tamazight language The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who ar ...

'': iqchochne imagine,'' ⵉⵇⵇⵛⵓⵛⵏ ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵏ) is a historical style of traditional

jewellery Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

that was worn by women mainly in rural areas of the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

region in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

and inhabited by Indigenous

Berber people Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their u ...

(in the Berber language Tamazight: ''Amazigh'' (sg.)'', Imazighen'', pl). Following long social and cultural traditions, Berber or other

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exact synonyms, as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are (or were, at least) largely the same but differed in that t ...

s in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and neighbouring countries created intricate jewellery with distinct regional variations. In many towns and cities, there were

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

silversmiths, who produced both jewellery in specific Berber styles as well as in other styles, adapting to changing techniques and artistic innovations. Handing their jewellery on from generation to generation, as a visual element of the Berber ethnic

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

, women maintained this characteristic cultural tradition as part of their gender-specific adornments. Berber communities exist in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and other locations, such as Lybia. The numbers and varieties of their ethnic jewellery correspond to demographic patterns.See, for example, and , as well as . Berber jewellery was usually made of silver and included elaborate triangular plates and pins, originally used as clasps for garments, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and similar items. During the second part of the 20th century, the tradition of Berber jewellery was gradually abandoned in favour of different styles of jewellery made of gold. Just as other items of traditional rural life like carpets, costumes or ceramics, Berber jewellery has entered private and public collections of North African artefacts. Contemporary variations of these types of jewellery like the symbol of a hand (Arabic:

hamsa The ''hamsa'' (, referring to images of 'the five fingers of the hand'),Zenner, 1988p. 284World Institute for Advanced Phenomenological Research and Learning (Belmont, Estados Unidos), 1991p. 219Drazin, 2009p. 268 also known as the hand of Fa ...

or in

Maghrebi Arabic Maghrebi Arabic, often known as ''ad-Dārija'' to differentiate it from Literary Arabic, is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb. It includes the Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Libyan, Hassaniya and Saharan Arabic di ...

''khmissa'') are sold today as commercial

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

products.

History

In their documented history, going back to prehistoric times, The different indigenous Berber peoples of North Africa, ranging from the

Siwa Oasis The Siwa Oasis ( ) is an urban oasis in Egypt. It is situated between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert, east of the Egypt–Libya border and from the Egyptian capital city of Cairo. I ...

in Egypt to Morocco and

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

, and historically including the

Guanches The Guanche were the Indigenous peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Spain, Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which i ...

of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, have undergone constant changes in lifestyles and culture. Most notably, the

Arab conquest The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabia that expanded rapidly un ...

brought about important changes from the late 7th century onwards. Over time, the different Berber groups of the vast area that is North Africa adapted to external influences and their cultures, living partially as rural, but also as urban populations. Especially in larger cities and towns, such as

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

Meknes Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...

, Berbers mixed with people of other ethnic backgrounds, gradually bringing forth an urban,

Islamized The spread of Islam spans almost 1,400 years. The early Muslim conquests that occurred following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE led to the creation of the caliphates, expanding over a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted ...

and partially

Arabized Arabization or Arabicization () is a sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Arab society becomes Arab, meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Arabic language, culture, literature, art, music, and ...

society, which led to a gradual change of traditional Berber culture.

Rural Berber cultures

In rural areas, Berbers were traditionally farmers, living in mountains, plains or an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentSiwa oasis in Egypt; but others, like the

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

and

Zenata The Zenata (; ) are a group of Berber tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic. Society The 14th-century historiographer Ibn Khaldun repo ...

of the southern Sahara, were almost wholly

nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

ic. Some groups, such as the Chaouis, practised a semi-nomadic life (

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or Nomad, nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and low ...

) and, during some months of the year, roamed the country with their herds of

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

(donkeys, sheep, goats, and camels in some areas) in search of fertile

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

s. While

sedentary Sedentary lifestyle is a lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and/or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like soc ...

life had flourished since prehistorical times, survival in the drier regions, and especially in the

High Atlas The High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas, is a mountain range in central Morocco, North Africa, the highest part of the Atlas Mountains. The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moro ...

and Anti-Atlas mountains, was only possible if people moved with their cattle to the higher mountain regions, where grass, herbs and above all water were still available in sufficient quantity. As they did not return to their villages until late autumn, their winter harvests were stored in a fortified communal

granary A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains o ...

, called ''agadir'', and protected against other nomads and hostile neighbouring villages by guards, who stayed there at all times. This regime was also followed in the Aures region of Algeria, where local clans stored grains in fortified granaries. In villages and small towns of Morocco, people often lived in traditional buildings called ''ksour'' (pl.). In most settlements,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

s and silversmiths operated small, family-run workshops. Based on their skills of handling the four elements: fire, air, water and metals, originally taken from the earth, these professions were often not highly regarded, which was partly due to superstitious beliefs attributed to these skills.

Berber jewellery in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia

Jewellery is easy to transport, and the women could take it along on the annual migrations. In a traditional world that functioned completely or largely without money, jewellery also played a role as a means of savings for emergencies. Thus, official coins were often used to adorn headgear, necklaces, etc. When necessary, they could be broken off and sold, but their value only consisted of pure material value. Bijoux_traditionnels_de_Kabylie

While the Arabized and urban inhabitants of North Africa preferred jewellery made of gold, the rural Berbers held on to silver jewellery for centuries. This provided the economic basis for the silversmiths in medium-sized towns, such as

Tiznit Tiznit or Tiznet (, ) is a town in the west coast of the Moroccan region of Souss-Massa, founded in 1881 by Alawi Sultan Hassan I. It is the capital of Tiznit Province and recorded a population of 74,699 in the 2014 Moroccan census. Internati ...

Sefrou Sefrou () is a city in central Morocco situated in the Fès-Meknès region. It recorded a population of 79,887 in the 2014 Moroccan census, up from 63,872 in the 2004 census. Sefrou is known for its historical Jewish population, and its annual che ...

in Morocco or in the

Kabylia Kabylia or Kabylie (; in Kabyle: Tamurt n leqbayel; in Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ ⵏ ⵍⴻⵇⴱⴰⵢⴻⵍ; ), meaning "Land of the Tribes" is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is ...

mountains in Algeria, which were often run by Jewish silversmiths. Whether the preference for silver happened solely for social, economic or reasons attributed to

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, such as the belief that these pieces bestow a protective effect ''(

baraka Baraka or Barakah may refer to: * Berakhah or Baraka, in Judaism, a blessing usually recited during a ceremony * Barakah or Baraka, in Islam, the beneficent force from God that flows through the physical and spiritual spheres * Baraka, full ''ḥa ...

)'', or for other reasons, can no longer be determined. In Algeria, important centres of jewellery production and usage were the villages of the Beni Yenni district and the town of Ouadhiya in the Great

mountains east of Algiers. In the north-eastern mountain region of the

Aurès Aurès () is a natural region located in the mountainous area of the Aurès Mountains, Aurès range, in eastern Algeria. The region includes the provinces of Algeria, Algerian provinces of Batna Province, Batna, Tebessa Province, Tebessa, Consta ...

, the

Chaoui The Chaoui people or ''Shawyia'' (, ) are a Berbers, Berber ethnic group native to the Aurès region in northeastern Algeria. They call themselves ''Išawiyen''/''Icawiyen'' (pronounced ) and speak the Shawiya language. They are the second larg ...

Berbers used silver jewellery, typically made with enamel applications and corals. In southern Tunisia, the island of

Djerba Djerba (; , ; ), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. Administratively, it is part of Medenine Governorate. The island h ...

was a traditional centre of jewellery production, whereby figurative motifs (plants, fish, birds), and sometimes gold instead of silver were used in contrast to the traditions in Morocco and Algeria.

Tuareg and Mauritanian jewellery

Jewellery made of silver, coloured glass or iron is also a special tradition of the

Tuareg people The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; Endonym and exonym, endonym, depending on Tuareg languages#Subclassification, variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berbers, Berber ethnic group, ...

. They belong to the Berber peoples and mostly still live as semi-nomads in parts of the Sahara in the Hoggar region of modern-day Algeria,

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

and

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

. Their jewellery is remarkable for the so-called Cross of Agadez, even though only a few of these pieces resemble a cross. Most are worn as

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...

s with varied shapes that either resemble a cross or have the shape of a plate or shield. Historically, the oldest known specimens were made of stone or copper, but subsequently, the Tuareg blacksmiths also used iron and silver made in the

lost-wax casting Lost-wax castingalso called investment casting, precision casting, or ''cire perdue'' (; borrowed from French)is the process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal, such as silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is cast from an original scul ...

technique. According to the article "The cross of Agadez", this piece has become a national and African symbol for Tuareg culture and political rights. Today, these pieces of jewellery are often made for tourists or as items of ethnic-style fashion for customers in other countries, with certain modern changes. Tuareg jewellery has been compared to similar styles of southwestern Morocco, the western parts of the Sahara and

, like the ''Cross of Trarza'', traditionally produced by Berber people, who speak

Hassaniya Arabic Hassaniya Arabic (; also known as , , , , and Maure) is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arabs, Malian Arabs and the Sahrawis. It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes of Yemeni origin who extended their authority o ...

and are sometimes referred to as Moors or

Beidane Beidane or Bidān, also spelled Baydan or Beydan (), is an Arabic term used in Mauritania to refer to lighter-skinned or "white Moors", in contrast to the term Haratine, which refers to those with a darker complexion or "black Moors". The Beidane, ...

. According to studies of Tuareg and Mauritanian jewellery, the latter are usually more embellished and may carry typical

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

al elements. Specimens of their jewellery, including heavy silver

anklet An anklet, also called ''ankle chain'', ''ankle bracelet'' or ''ankle string'', is an ornament worn around the ankle. Barefoot anklets and toe rings historically have been worn for at least over 8,000 years by girls and women in Indus Valley, ...

s, were published in the book ''Berber women of Morocco.''

Methods, forms and society

COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Berbervrouw_in_feestkledij_uit_Tafraoute_Zuid-Marokko_TMnr_60033850

Traditional Berber jewellery consists mainly of silver, cast in a

mould A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi ...

and afterwards finished by hand. Depending on the region as well as the type of jewellery,

enamelling Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word ''vitreous'' comes ...

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

s, beads of

Amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

and coloured glass or rarely semi-precious stones were applied. According to

art historians The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics ...

, the art of

using the

cloisonné Cloisonné () is an ancient technology, ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inla ...

technique was introduced by

Sephardi Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

Jewish goldsmiths, who in turn had inherited this skill from their forefathers in

Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

. Another method used in the Maghreb is called ''filigrané'', as thin silver

filigree Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork. In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver, m ...

wire was used for intricate, mesh-like designs, to mark the boundaries of inserted beads or the areas for each colour of enamelled space in the typical shades of yellow, green and blue, before the melted glass powder was applied. Enamelled Berber jewellery was produced in Algeria (Great Kabylia), in Morocco (Tiznit and

Anti-Atlas The Anti-Atlas, also known as Lesser Atlas or Little Atlas, is a mountain range in Morocco, a part of the Atlas Mountains in the northwest of Africa. The Anti-Atlas extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest toward the northeast, to the heig ...

) as well as in Tunisia (

Moknine Moknine () is a town and commune in the Monastir Governorate, Tunisia. Sports Moknine stands out for its multi-sport club, the Sporting Club of Moknine, which includes both football and handball sections. The handball team, in particular, has b ...

and the island of Djerba). Visible parts of the pieces that were not covered by enamelling or filigrané technique were mostly covered by

engraved Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an inta ...

chisel A chisel is a hand tool with a characteristic Wedge, wedge-shaped cutting edge on the end of its blade. A chisel is useful for carving or cutting a hard material such as woodworking, wood, lapidary, stone, or metalworking, metal. Using a chi ...

led designs hammered into the silver and often also made more visible by applying the

niello Niello is a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal, especially silver. It is added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts or at least softens, and flows or is push ...

technique. In addition to ornamental

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, ...

s, rings and chains for necklaces or

headgear Headgear, headwear, or headdress is any element of clothing which is worn on one's Human head, head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protective clothing, protection against t ...

, characteristic

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

penannular brooch The Celtic brooch, more properly called the penannular brooch, and its closely related type, the pseudo-penannular brooch, are types of brooch clothes fasteners, often rather large; penannular means formed as an incomplete ring. They are especial ...

es, composed of a symmetrical pair of triangular plates with pins, called ''tizerzaï'', were used virtually with the pins perforating the women's unsown outer garments and pointing straight up to keep

draped garment A draped garment (draped dress) is a garment that is made of a single piece of cloth that is draped around the body; drapes are not cut away or stitched as in a tailored garment. Drapes can be held to the body by means of knotting, pinning, fi ...

s in place. In some cases, these Amazigh brooches were rather large and heavy, as they had to hold up long pieces of textile, made of cotton or wool, and loosely draped around the body. A

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

or beaded necklace often was attached to the two brooches, fixed to a ring at the bottom of the brooches. As brooches in similar form and function are known from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and later Roman and Visigoth brooches, such ''fibulae'' are believed to have been in use in the Maghreb since ancient times. WLANL_-_petertf_-_Handje_van_Fatima

Typical basic forms of jewellery are

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

s and

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

shapes, as well as the so-called ''khmissa'' (local pronunciation of the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

word ''

khamsa Khamsa (Arabic, ) may refer to: * Hamsa, a popular amulet in the Middle East and North Africa, also romanized as ''khamsa'' * Al Khamsa, a bloodline for Arabian horses that traces back to five mares * Al Khamsa (organization), a nonprofit organi ...

'' for the number ''five''), which is called ''as'' in the Berber language (''Tamazight)''. This form represents the five fingers of the hand and is traditionally believed both by

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

as well as

Jewish people Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

to protect against the

Evil Eye The evil eye is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glaring, glare, usually inspired by envy. Amulets to Apotropaic, protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago. It is found in many cultures i ...

. Apart from these, geometrical, floral, animal and "cosmic" forms such as solar discs or

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

s were used according to regional traditions. The geometric shapes of jewellery can also be found in the ornaments of Berber

mud-brick Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand and water) mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE. From ...

or stone buildings and on their traditional clothes and

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of Pile (textile), pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fiber, synthetic fibres such as polyprop ...

s. The

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

s of Berber women and their henna ornaments applied on special occasions as well as some images of regional

rock art In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type al ...

also show similar forms. In the southern parts of Morocco, especially in today's regions of

Drâa-Tafilalet Drâa-Tafilalet () is one of the twelve regions of Morocco. It covers an area of 88,836 km2 and had a population of 1,635,008 as of the 2014 Moroccan census. The capital of the region is Errachidia. Geography Drâa-Tafilalet is situated i ...

and

Sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) (, ) is a historical, cultural and geographical region of Morocco, which constitutes part of the region administration of Souss-Massa and Guelmim-Oued Noun. The region is known for the en ...

with the important marketplace Tiznit,

Jewish Berbers The history of the Jews in Morocco goes back to ancient times. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community, with the oldest irrefutable evidence of Judaism in Morocco dating back to the Roman period. After the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, ...

, who had lived there since at least the second century BCE until their emigration in the late 1950s, were renowned silversmiths for their Berber jewellery. Since the ''khmisa'', as the " Hand of Miriam" also has a protective reputation against bad luck for Jews, such pieces were also made with a

Star of David The Star of David (, , ) is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the Seal of Solomon was used for decora ...

. Pieces of jewellery were valued objects and worn for important celebrations, such as weddings, and religious and social gatherings like country fairs ('' moussem''). They constituted the most important part of a husband's wedding gifts and a woman's

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

, which remained her personal property even in case of a divorce, and were passed on from one generation to the next. Due to changes in generations, taste and wealth, they were often changed and reworked. Therefore, the age of many pieces is difficult to date, and one has to assume that most of them were only made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Just as other elements of a person's appearance, jewellery was not only worn for

aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...

purposes, but also carried information about the social situation of women, including messages about marital status, wealth and social hierarchy.

Modern changes

In the second half of the 20th century, the traditional lifestyles of the rural Berbers underwent important changes. Notwithstanding the constant modernization in the rural regions of the Maghreb, migration from the countryside to the cities and other countries has been increasing steadily. Berber jewellery thus lost its original meaning, and demand as well as traditional production came to a standstill. Art historian Cynthia Becker reports from her field studies in rural areas of southern Morocco during the 1990s that merely few Berber women still wore silver jewellery daily, and that traditional dress and jewellery were only worn during wedding ceremonies, where these traditions have played an important role before. According to most authors, however, contemporary Berber women have abandoned the use of traditional jewellery in favour of modern urban styles made of gold. Many pieces were sold to individual buyers travelling the area, and these in turn sold it on to the increasing number of antique and tourist shops in the cities. Today, most customers are tourists or collectors from abroad, while in contemporary art, Berber jewellery is used to "express a nostalgic and idealized vision of the past". In the early 2000s, Moroccan visual artist

Amina Agueznay Amina Agueznay (born 1963 in Casablanca, Morocco) is a Moroccan Visual arts, visual artist and trained architect, known for her contemporary artworks. Her work has included Jewellery design, jewellery designs and Installation art, art installatio ...

used historical silver pieces of the Berber tradition with her own additions to create her contemporary jewellery, such as a silver pendant and necklace with a traditional engraving on one side and a modern application on the other.

Museum collections and exhibitions

As part of material cultural heritage, historical Berber jewellery has been collected by

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

museums in the Maghreb, such as the Dar Si Said museum in Marrakesh, the Musée du Patrimoine Amazigh in

Agadir Agadir (, ; ) is a major List of cities in Morocco, city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Sous River, Souss River flows into the ocean, and south of Casabla ...

or the Bardo National Museum in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. Museums in other countries, such as the Musée du quai Branly in Paris, the

Tropenmuseum The Wereldmuseum Amsterdam (previously known as Tropenmuseum () between 1950 and 2023) is an ethnographic museum with its headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was originally founded in Haarlem, Netherlands in 1864 under the name ''Koloniaal ...

in Amsterdam or the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

and

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

in New York City, also present such pieces and other traditional cultural objects of the Berber people. In 2008, the Museum for African Art in New York opened an exhibition of Moroccan jewelry and art from the private Xavier Guerrand-Hermès collection. From December 2004 to August 2006, the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

presented the exhibition ''Imazighen! Beauty and Artisanship in Berber Life'' with an accompanying catalogue on traditional artifacts, including jewellery, from the Berber regions Kabylia in north-eastern Algeria, the Rif mountains of north-eastern Morocco and the Tuareg regions of the Algerian Sahara. The exhibition ''Splendeurs du Maroc'' at the

Royal Museum for Central Africa The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) (; ; ), communicating under the name AfricaMuseum since 2018, is an ethnography and natural history museum situated in Tervuren in Flemish Brabant, Belgium, just outside Brussels. It was originally b ...

in Belgium in 1998/99 presented a large variety of Moroccan jewelry from the museum's as well as private collections, described in the accompanying book of the same name. Art historian Björn Dahlström, a former director of the Berber Art Museum in

, edited the volume ''Berber Women of Morocco'', which was published in conjunction with the 2014/15 exhibition of the same name and shown in Paris,

Manama Manama ( ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and List of cities in Bahrain, largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 297,502 as of 2012. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is ...

and

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

. From February 2016 to January 2017, the

Institut du Monde arabe The Institut du Monde Arabe (, ''Arab World Institute''; abbr. IMA) is an organisation founded in Paris in 1980 by France with 18 Arab countries to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural and spiritual values. ...

in Paris exhibited more than 250 pieces of mainly Berber jewelry from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia from a private collection, titled ''Des trésors à porter. Bijoux et parures du Maghreb'' reasures to wear. Jewellery and ornaments of the Maghreb The accompanying book includes images and information about the materials, techniques, and regional origin of the different styles and pieces. Opened in January 2023, the National Jewellery Museum in Rabat presents a large and varied collection of Berber jewelry, alongside other Moroccan jewelry and personal adornment. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Paar zilveren kledingspelden met borstversiering TMnr 6387-2.jpg, Pair of triangular ''fibulae'' with chain and

from southern Morocco,

Amsterdam File:Djerba Touareg pendant.JPG, Tuareg pendant from Hoggar, Algeria, Musée Lalla Hadria,

, Tunisia, photo: Ad Meskens File:MAP Paris Fibules 04032012 1.jpg, Fibula brooches of the ''bélier'' style, resembling a

ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

's head, in the Musée du quai Branly, Paris File:Berber Branly 02.JPG, Fibula from Algeria, Musée du quai Branly, Paris

Scholarship

Ethnographic studies in the Maghreb started with French colonial officials and social scientists and included descriptions of the Berber cultures, mostly about their traditional architecture, textiles and ceramics, as well as to important social events like marriages, local festivals (''mousses'') and Indigenous forms of economic life. During the second part of the 20th century, French ethnologists published academic papers and books for the wider public. These mainly focused on the

classification Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identif ...

of Berber jewellery in terms of category as brooches, earrings, bracelets etc., of materials, forms and local names of the different pieces and on the historical, geographical and ethnic origins of the silversmiths and their customers. Since the beginning of the 21st century, art historians have widened their focus of investigation on further aspects of this cultural tradition, such as the social and gender-specific roles of Berber women and the changing importance of jewellery and other forms of Berber artistic production in the contemporary world.

Early ethnographic descriptions

The French collector and art critic Paul Eudel (1837–1911) was one of the first authors of art historical descriptions of jewellery in the Maghreb. After his first account of jewellery in Algeria and Tunisia ''L'orfévrerie algérienne et tunisienne'' (1902), he published a thematic dictionary with an even wider geographical scope, titled ''Dictionnaire des bijoux de l’Afrique du Nord. Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie, Tripolitaine'' (1906). Based on his travels to these countries, he compiled detailed information about Berber and other styles of jewellery with graphic illustrations for his notes.

Jean Besancenot Jean Besancenot, (; 24 September 1902 – 27 July 1992), born as Jean Girard, was a French painter, documentary photographer, and self-trained Ethnography, ethnographer, active mainly during the 1930s and 1940s in the French protectorate in Moro ...

(1902–1992), a French painter, self-trained ethnographer and

documentary photographer Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional ph ...

, produced detailed descriptions as well as numerous photographs and artistic illustrations of traditional costumes and other forms of personal

adornment An adornment is generally an accessory or ornament worn to enhance the beauty or status of the wearer. They are often worn to embellish, enhance, or distinguish the wearer, and to define cultural, social, or religious status within a specific co ...

in Morocco. Commissioned by the administration of the French protectorate, he had collected these ethnographic records during his extensive travels in the country between 1934 and 1939. For his illustrated book ''Costumes du Maroc'' (1942), he identified three basic categories of costumes: rural Berber dress,

dress and urban citizens'

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress and/or makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used to describe typica ...

s, some of which with

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

elements of dress. Further, each of the portraits of his 60

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...

paintings was attributed to a specific social role (married woman, palace guard, musician etc.), city or region, and Berber dress also assigned to corresponding tribal groups. As these forms of dress were still very much alive and differentiated in the 1930s, Besancenot remarked that in rural areas, each type of dress represented a tribal identity. As his artistic colour portraits of persons in full length did not allow sufficient space for elements like hairstyles, shoes or how to drape loose pieces of textiles, such as the urban haik and Berber

s, he added explanations and drawings of these pieces of personal appearance. To represent jewellery in detail, he added descriptions and drawings of 56 pieces of urban as well as 38 rural Berber styles. In his second work, ''Bijoux arabes et berbères du Maroc'' (1953), he published his drawings and descriptions of almost 200 pieces of jewellery from different places and traditions in Morocco. Besancenot was originally a painter, and his drawings highlight the intricate features of the pieces in reduced detail compared to his corresponding photographs. In the course of his field visits, he learned to use photography as a means of quickly capturing his ethnographic impressions. In an interview with the journalist Dominique Carré, he commented on his approach: "I wanted to prove that scientists very often pursue their investigations in a frame of mind that partially leaves aside the aesthetic aspect. ..They thoroughly study many things but often neglect the aspects of traditional arts that contain a significant aesthetic value. I wanted to restore this value."

Studies by ethnologists

Henriette Camps-Fabrer (1928–2015), a French

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

who specialized in North African culture, wrote several books about the Berber jewellery of Algeria and the neighbouring Maghreb countries between the 1970s and 1990. She and her husband,

Gabriel Camps Gabriel Camps (May 20, 1927 – September 6, 2002) was a French archaeologist and social anthropologist, the founder of the '' Encyclopédie berbère'' and is considered a prestigious scholar on the history of the Berber people. Biography G ...

(1927–2002) had grown up in colonial Algeria and published research on the history of the Berber people. After the independence of Algeria in 1962, they taught archaeology and cultural anthropology at the

University of Algiers The University of Algiers 1 (), commonly called Benyoucef Benkhedda, is a public research university based in Algiers, Algeria. Founded in 1909 from the amalgamation of different French colonial educational institutions, it has become the oldes ...

and were associated with the Bardo National Museum. Gabriel Camps was also the founder and first editor-in-chief of the

Encyclopédie Berbère ''Encyclopédie berbère'' (English: ''Berber Encyclopaedia'') is a French-language encyclopaedia dealing with subjects related to the Berber peoples (''Imazighen'' in Berber language), published both in print editions and in a partial online ...

, where entries about Berber jewellery, its history, production and

typology A typology is a system of classification used to organize things according to similar or dissimilar characteristics. Groups of things within a typology are known as "types". Typologies are distinct from taxonomies in that they primarily address t ...

by Camps-Fabrer were published. The French ethnologist Marie-Rose Rabaté is the (co-)author of several books and articles since the late 1970s about popular traditions in Morocco, focussing on costumes, jewellery and other

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typically excl ...

. Commenting on the disappearing use of Berber jewellery since the 1960s, she deemed it "urgent, at the end of the

0th 0th or zeroth may refer to: Mathematics, science and technology * 0th or zeroth, an ordinal for the number 0 * 0th dimension, a topological space * 0th element, of a data structure in computer science * Zeroth law of thermodynamics, 0th law of The ...

century, to identify these ornaments, to locate them as exactly as possible, to give them their rightful place in the history of Moroccan traditions." In his 1989 book ''Bijoux berbères au Maroc'' ''dans la tradition judéo-arabe'', that focussed on the Jewish tradition in Morocco, the ethnologist David Rouach gave detailed information about how to ascertain the production date of some of the silver pieces, the forms and techniques used and especially about their symbols and designs.

Studies by art historians

The 2021 book ''Berber Memories: Women and Jewellery in Morocco'' presents chapters by Belgian art historian Michel Draguet on the history of the Berbers, as well as on gender-specific cultural traditions of Berber women. Jewellery is set in the context of daily life, where women had a specific social status reflected by their

handicraft A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

oral poetry Oral poetry is a form of poetry that is composed and transmitted without the aid of writing. The complex relationships between written and spoken literature in some societies can make this definition hard to maintain. Background Oral poetry is ...

and fashion, including jewellery. Drawing on a private collection of about 300 pieces, this volume of almost 600 pages also presents numerous photographs of Berber jewellery from different regions in Morocco. According to the article ''Deconstructing the history of Berber arts: tribalism, matriarchy and a primitive Neolithic past'' (2010) by

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

's African art historian Cynthia Becker, the contemporary understanding of the history of Berber artistic traditions remains cursory and superficial. While

postcolonial Postcolonialism (also post-colonial theory) is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic consequences of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and extractivism, exploitation of colonized pe ...

scholarship has critically exposed the stereotypes and

Eurocentric Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) refers to viewing the West as the center of world events or superior to other cultures. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world to just the continent of Euro ...

approach of earlier studies, she posits that this historical approach has been insufficient to understand the complex realities of North African people's lives. In particular, she claims that the influence of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, Arab culture, trade and migration have largely been overlooked. Further, she challenged the notion of "urban Arab" artistic production as opposed to "rural Berber" artefacts and quoted art historian Sidney L. Kasfir's article ''One tribe, one style?'', which states that "pre-colonial cultures were mutually dependent, interacted frequently, and shared many of their artistic traditions across ethnic boundaries." Criticizing the notion of "ancient" Berber traditions that denies historical change, Becker argues: "Such claims romanticize and de- historicize rural Berbers, reinforcing the idea that authentic Berber arts are those that remained untouched throughout the centuries." Referring to interpretations of Berber motifs as

archetypal The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, History of psychology#Emergence of German experimental psychology, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a stat ...

forms with protective features that have been traced to pre-Islamic times by colonial-era ethnologists such as Gabriel Camps, Becker further cautions that the notion of an "unconscious, millennia-old "Berberness" fails "to consider subtle social encounters and negotiations that influence artistic production." Commenting on the central and gender-specific roles of women as producers of clothing and textiles and as beneficiaries of costumes and jewellery, Becker wrote in her 2006 study, ''Amazigh Arts in Morocco. Women Shaping Berber Identity'',: "Women both created the artistic symbols of Berber identity and wore them on their bodies, making the decorated female body a public symbol of Berber identity." In she concludes that in contrast to North Africans of

Arab culture Arab culture is the culture of the Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, in a region of the Middle East and North Africa known as the Arab world. The various religions the Arabs have adopted throughout Histor ...

, Berber women "are the primary producers of art, and women's arts identify the group as Berber." French ethnologist Marie-Luce Gélard discusses jewellery in the context of collective marriage rituals of the Aït Khabbash tribe in southeastern Morocco and emphasizes both the gender-specific nature of such objects as well as the complementarity of gender-related cultural practices as follows: Other contemporary aspects of ethnographic studies and the presentation of Berber and other North African material culture in museums relate to questions, how the complex social history and cultural production of Berber or Arabic-speaking people may be understood. In the context of post-colonial studies, authors such as Cynthia Becker and Lisa Bernaseck have stated that the relationships between "individuals, state institutions, academic scholarship and colonial arts policies have shaped our understanding of Berber arts". Art historical categories used to explain these relationships, such as the distinction between ''Arab/urban'' versus ''Berber/rural'' or ''ethnographical'' versus ''artistic'' objects, "continue to organize the production of knowledge about these arts today" and still are considered not fully adequate to describe the complex social production and interpretation of changing societies in the Maghreb.

Notes and references

Sources

* * * * * * * * Chakour, Djamila, et al. (2016). ''Des tresors a porter: Bijoux et parures du Maghreb: Collection J.-F. Et M.-L. Bouvier''. Paris: Institut du monde arabe. * * New edition 2014, Casablanca: Éditions Frontispice, * * * * * * * * *

External links

Collection of Berber jewellery at the Musée du quai Branly

Berber jewellery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Online database of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Berber artists

Comprehensive overview on Berber jewellery, with many images (in French)
online at

Encyclopédie berbère ''Encyclopédie berbère'' (English: ''Berber Encyclopaedia'') is a French-language encyclopaedia dealing with subjects related to the Berber peoples (''Imazighen'' in Berber language), published both in print editions and in a partial online ...

Description and pictures of the book ''Berber Memories. Women and Jewellery in Morocco (2021).''
* Blog by Sigrid van Roode
Silver savings: of bracelets, banks and ladies who mean business
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewellery of the Berber cultures Berber cultures Berber culture Silversmithing Culture of Morocco Culture of Algeria Culture of Tunisia Tuareg culture Berber cultures Fashion