Jewellery making greatly flourished during the Archaic period. The developed mining activity of the period and the expansion of commercial transactions throughout the colonies provided the necessary precious metals. Relations with the East gave fresh impetus to techniques and its rich iconography stimulated the imagination of Hellenic craftsmen. The most important sources of gold that were controlled by the Greeks in the Archaic years were the rivers Pactolus in Asia Minor and Echedorous (Gallikos) in Macedonia, the Pagaeon mountain, Thasos and Siphnos. Also gold was imported to Greece from the ores in Egypt, in Nubia, in Lydia and in Caucasus. In most of the aforementioned regions there was also mining of silver, whereas the mines of Laurion had been in operation even before the Persian wars. Of course, jewellery was also made from bronze, which often exceeded the gold ones in quantity. Nevertheless, it is very rarely of the same quality. It is apparent from findings that the specifications of the design, technique and decoration were set for gold. Bronze (and more rarely iron) jewellery was usually a simple imitation in a cheaper material.

The basic techniques were forging, repousse technique in stone, wooden and bronze moulds, engraving, the use of stamps for repeated motifs, casting with the process of "cire perdue", casting in moulds, filingree technique and the technique of granulation. The two last techniques required high skills and were known in Phoenicia and Etruria. Granulation reached a high level of uniformity and alignment of the granules, during the 7th century B.C., in Rhodes. The filingree technique was very succesfully used in a series of earings of the 6th century B.C. in Macedonia.

We know many types of jewellery. Among the earliest examples are some gold and gold-plated silver sheets from wreaths dedicated to the sanctuary of Artemis Orthias, in Sparta. Of course the wreaths mostly representated honourary distinctions, but during that period the introduction of the custom of crowning the dead has also been archaeologically established. The diadems -already popular from the Geometric period- follow the powerful current of oriental influences, and the favourite motif that decorates them during the 7th century are rosettes. The most elaborate ones come from Rhodes, Kos and Melos. In the following century the thematology is differentiated with new floral motifs and several examples come from the north coasts of the Black Sea and Cyprus. At the same time in Macedonia a workshop prevailed, which among others manufactured some of the most beautiful banded earings that have been found in Sindos, Aiane and Thessalonike. Another category of earings are those with a pyramid shaped fitting, which appear in Argos in the 7th century, and survived until the Hellenistic period. Less common are boat-shaped earings, as, for example, the pair that was found in Spata in Attica.

A series of impressive necklaces consisting of plaques with representations of Potnia Theron 'Mistress of the Animals' have been attributed to Rhodes. Pendants of similar detailed work come from Sindos in Macedonia with fusiform and vase-shaped beads and periapts worked in the filigree and granulation, which are dated in the second half of the 6th century B.C. Finally, isolated but interesting pieces come from Eleusis, Eretria and Thera. Moreover, from Sindos and the area of Ochrid we have many pins with disc-shaped or spherical heads, as well as fibulae with cylindrical fittings.