In the creation of your modern jewelry – whether that’s earrings, necklaces, rings, brooches, or bracelets – raw gemstones are sawed, then ground and polished, in order to make the desirable shapes that we know and love today.

And it turns out that these modern processes aren’t dissimilar to those used by ancient tribes to create their decorative riches.

That is, according to a new study published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, in which the researchers detail the processes of jewelers living in nomadic tribes in Central Asia, over 2,000 years ago.

Amazingly, just like us, these ancient jewellers also seemingly knew of the incredible hardness of diamond, and used the precious material for drilling their gemstones too.

How do the researchers know this?

While studying over 50 gemstones found in the two-thousand year old Rabat Cemetery in Uzbekistan, the research team used electron microscopes in order to understand how holes in these stones were drilled to make pendants.

And the holes drilled in these gemstones – which included garnet and carnelian – showed clear evidence of diamond-based drilling, with the suggestion that two types of diamond drill were used to create the desired shape of hole.

These well-worn semi-precious gemstones, preserved for between two and four thousand years, were buried with their final wearer but, the study suggests, were passed down as family heirlooms throughout their lifetime.

This durability (and their immaculate preservation) just goes to prove the skill levels of the ancient jewelers who made them.

Though archaeologists have not, as yet, discovered any prehistoric diamond drills, this new evidence proves that, as suspected, diamond drilling processes have been present across Central Asia for thousands of years.

But this new evidence from the cemetery site in Uzbekistan gives new parameters to scientists’ beliefs of these ancient jewelery forging processes, with previous estimates dating diamond drills back to the Kwa Mgogo site in Tanzania, centuries later.

Since 41 of the 51 studied gemstones had clearly been punctured by diamond drills, it is clear that – at least in this area – the practice was widespread and cemented for much longer than expected.

And this just goes to show how skilful and innovative our ancestors really were.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read a story that reveals Earth’s priciest precious metal isn’t gold or platinum and costs over $10,000 an ounce!