Editing Earring (section)

==History==
<!--[[File:Indian (Satavahana) earring.jpg|thumb|upright|Golden [[India]]n earring]] -->
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| image3            = Andhra Pradesh Royal earrings 1st Century BCE.jpg
| image2            = Earring sphinx NMT KP1344-RMI1478 v2.jpg
| image1            = Earrings Ancient Egypt.jpg
| caption3          = Golden [[Indian people|Indian]] earrings ([[Satavahana]], 1st century BCE)
| caption2          = [[Greco-Bactrian]] sphinx earring, 2nd century BCE
| caption1          = [[Ancient Egyptian]] earrings, reign of [[Thutmose III]], 15th century BCE
| image4            = 경주 부부총 금귀걸이.jpg
| caption4          = [[Silla]]-period Korean earrings (6th century)
| image5            = Khalili Collection Islamic Art jly 0752.1.jpg
| caption5          = 11th century Iranian earrings with pendant chains. Iranian origins confirmed by the reflexive-spiral terminal. [[Khalili Collection]]
| image6            = Arracada d'arengada catalana.png
| caption6          = Catalan [[herring earring]]s made of precious metals and gems, 19th century AD
| image7            = Coin of Phraatakes (Phraates V), Seleucia mint (cropped).jpg
| caption7          = Coin of [[Phraates V]] of Parthia, 2-4 AD
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[[File:Santorini girl picks flowers.jpg|thumb|right|A fresco depicting an elegantly dressed woman with hoop earrings from [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]], Thera ([[Cyclades]]) [[Greece]], {{circa}} 1650-1625 BCE.<ref name="Cengage Learning">{{cite book|last1= Kleiner |first1= Fred S. |title=Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition, Book A: Antiquity |publisher=Cengage Learning |location= [ ]|year= 2015|pages=90–91 |isbn=9781305544895 |quote= Two elegantly dressed young women bedecked with bracelets and hoop earrings gather crocuses.{{nbsp}}[...] Crocus gatherers, detail of the east wall of room 3 of building Xeste 3, Akrotiri, Thera (Cyclades) Greece, c. 1650-1625 BCE}}</ref>]]
Ear piercing is one of the oldest known forms of [[body modification]], with artistic and written references from cultures around the world dating back to early history. Gold earrings, along with other jewelry made of gold, lapis lazuli, and carnelian were found in the ancient sites in [[Lothal]], India,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyXxEX5PQH8C&q=earring+gold&pg=PA14|title=Ornament in Indian Architecture|year=1991|page=14|publisher=[[University of Delaware Press]]|isbn=9780874133998}}</ref> and [[Sumer]]ian [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]] from the [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic period]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/322907|title=Earring — ca. 2600–2500 B.C.|website=MetMuseum.org|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sumerianshakespeare.com/117701/118101.html|title=Jewelry from The Royal Tombs of Ur|website=sumerianshakespeare.com|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penn.museum/collections/highlights/neareast/puabi.php|title=Queen Puabi's Headdress from the Royal Cemetery at Ur|website=[[Penn Museum]]|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref> [[Gold]], [[silver]] and [[bronze]] hoop earrings were prevalent in the [[Minoan Civilization]] (2000–1600 BCE) and examples can be seen on frescoes on the Aegean island of [[Santorini]], [[Greece]]. During the late [[Minoan Civilization|Minoan]] and early [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean periods]] of [[Bronze Age Greece]] hoop earrings with conical pendants were fashionable.<ref name="ABC-CLIO">{{cite book|last1= Pitts-Taylor |first1= Victoria |title=Cultural Encyclopedia of the Body [2 volumes] |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location= [ ]|year= 2008 |pages=94–95 |isbn= 9781567206913 |quote= The Fayum mummy portraits from Hawara dating from the first to the third centuries CE depict several females with various styles of earrings. In most cases, the portraits are thought to represent Greek colonists living in Egypt. Some early Greeks wore earrings for the purposes of fashion as well as protection against evil. The popularity of earrings is evident in major cultures of the ancient world. In the middle Minoan period (2000–1600 BCE), gold, silver, and bronze hoop earrings with tapered ends were popular. In the late Minoan and early Mycenaean periods, the hoop evolved with a conical pendant.}}</ref> Early evidence of earrings worn by men can be seen in archeological evidence from [[Persepolis]] in ancient [[Persia]]. The carved images of soldiers of the Persian Empire, displayed on some of the surviving walls of the palace, show them wearing an earring.<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[File:Persepolis soldier.jpg|thumb|depiction of a Persian soldier wearing a earring on the walls of [[Persepolis]]]] -->

[[Howard Carter]] writes in his description of [[Tutankhamun]]'s tomb that the Pharaoh's earlobes were perforated, but no earrings were found inside the wrappings, although the tomb contained some. The burial mask's ears were perforated as well, but the holes were covered with golden discs. This implies that at the time, earrings were only worn in Egypt by children, much like in Egypt of Carter's times.<ref>''The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen: Discovered by the Late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter, Volume 3'', pp. 74–75</ref>
[[File:Giorgi III of Imereti by Castelli.jpg|thumb|left|King [[George III of Imereti]] depicted wearing earring. [[Teramo Castelli]], 1630s]]
Other early evidence of earring-wearing is evident in the Biblical record; gold earrings were a sign of wealth, but ear piercing was also used on slaves.<ref>[https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_Body_Adornment/WuLEEAAAQBAJ ''Encyclopedia of Body Adornment''], p. 94</ref> By the classical period, including in the [[Middle East]], as a general rule, they were considered exclusively female ornaments. During certain periods in [[Classical Greece|Greece]] and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] also, earrings were worn mainly by women, though they were popular among men in early periods and had resurfaced later on, as famous figures like [[Plato]] were known to have worn them.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=798}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Notopoulos |first=James A. |date=1940 |title=Porphyry's Life of Plato |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/264394 |journal=Classical Philology |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=284–293 |doi=10.1086/362396 |jstor=264394 |s2cid=161160877 |issn=0009-837X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Perseus Under Philologic: Diog. Laert. 3.1.43 |url=https://anastrophe.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/perseus/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekAug21&getid=1&query=Diog.%20Laert.%203.1.43 |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=anastrophe.uchicago.edu |archive-date=2022-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207130958/https://anastrophe.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/perseus/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekAug21&getid=1&query=Diog.%20Laert.%203.1.43 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The practice of wearing earrings was a tradition for [[Ainu people|Ainu]] men and women,<ref>Sherrow, Victoria (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=mNLZkzxmiEIC&pg=PA101 ''For appearance' sake: the historical encyclopedia of good looks, beauty, and grooming'']. [[Greenwood Publishing Group]] via [[Google Books]]. p. 101.</ref> but the [[Government of Meiji Japan]] forbade Ainu men to wear earrings in the late-19th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080520i1.html|title=Ainu: indigenous in every way but not by official fiat|first=Masami|last=Ito|publisher=[[The Japan Times]]|date=May 20, 2008|access-date=March 4, 2011}}</ref> Earrings were also commonplace among nomadic [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] tribes and [[Korea]]. Lavish ear ornaments have remained popular in [[India]] from ancient times to the present day. And it was common that men and women wear earrings during [[Silla]], [[Goryeo]] to [[Joseon]].

In [[Western Europe]], earrings became fashionable among English courtiers and gentlemen in the sixteenth century during the [[English Renaissance]]. Revealing of attitudes at the time, and commenting on the degeneracy of his contemporaries, [[Holinshed's Chronicles|Holinshed]] in his Chronicle (1577) observes: "Some lusty courtiers and gentlemen of courage do wear either rings of gold, stones or pearls in their ears, whereby they imagine the workmanship of God to be not a little amended."<ref>{{Cite book | url = https://wellcomecollection.org/works/z4zxugwu | title = Jewellery / by H. Clifford Smith, M.A.}}</ref> Among [[sailor]]s, a pierced earlobe was a symbol that the wearer had sailed around the world or had crossed the equator.<ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QTTEgTu03GUC&q=ear+piercing+sailor+equator&pg=PA94 | title = Encyclopedia of body adornment | isbn = 978-0-313-33695-9 | last1 = Demello | first1 = Margo | year = 2007| publisher = Abc-Clio }}</ref>

By the late 1950s or early 1960s, the practice re-emerged in the [[Western world]]. Teenage girls were known to hold "ear-piercing parties", where they performed the procedure on one another. By the mid-1960s, some physicians offered ear piercing as a service.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beech |first=Georgina |date=2023-05-12 |title=100 Years Of Piercings |url=https://www.glam.com/1284681/100-years-piercings/ |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=Glam |language=en-US}}</ref> Simultaneously, [[Manhattan]] jewelry stores were some of the earliest commercial, non-medical locations for having one's ears pierced.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

In the late 1960s, ear piercing began to make inroads among men through the [[hippie]] and [[Homosexuality|gay]] communities, although they had been popular among sailors for decades (or longer).<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/19/news/piercing-fad-is-turning-convention-on-its-ear.html | title=Piercing Fad Is Turning Convention on Its Ear | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=1991-05-19 | first=Trish | last=Hall}}</ref>

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| caption2          = A lobe and industrial piercing
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By the early 1970s, ear piercing was common among women, thus creating a broader market for the procedure. Department stores throughout the United States would hold ear piercing events, sponsored by earring manufacturers. At these events, a nurse or other trained person would perform the procedure, either pushing a sharpened and sterilized ''starter earring'' through the earlobe by hand, or using an [[Ear piercing instrument|ear-piercing instrument]] modified from the design used by physicians.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}}

In the late 1970s, amateur piercings, sometimes with safety pins or multiple piercings, became popular in the [[punk rock]] community. By the 1980s, the trend for male [[popular music]] performers to have pierced ears helped establish a fashion trend for men. This was later adopted by many professional [[Sportsperson|athletes]]. British men started piercing both ears in the 1980s; [[George Michael]] of [[Wham! (pop duo)|Wham!]] was a prominent example. As of now, it is widely acceptable for teenage and pre-teen boys to have both ears pierced as well simply as a fashion statement. 
[[File:Multiple ears pierced baby.jpg|thumb|upright|Newborn baby girl with triple ear piercings – Costa Rica 2012]]

Multiple piercings in one or both ears first emerged in mainstream America in the 1970s. Initially, the trend was for women to wear a second set of earrings in the earlobes, or for men to double-pierce a single earlobe. Asymmetric styles with more and more piercings became popular, eventually leading to the cartilage piercing trend. Double ear piercing in newborn babies is a phenomenon in Central America, particularly in Costa Rica.

A variety of specialized cartilage piercings have since become popular. These include the [[tragus piercing]], [[antitragus piercing]], [[rook piercing]], [[industrial piercing]], helix piercing, [[orbital piercing]], [[daith piercing]], and conch piercing. In addition, [[earlobe stretching]], while common in indigenous cultures for thousands of years, began to appear in Western society in the 1990s, and is now fairly common. However, these forms of ear piercing are still infrequent compared to standard ear piercing.