While Spondylus, a marine bivalve greatly valued in prehistoric times for its color, utility as a luxury ornament and ritualistic and religious significance, has been well-studied in Andean cultures, and to a lesser extent in Panamic or Isthmo-Colombian context, it is much less well known in Mesoamerica, especially on the West Coast of Mexico.

Robert K. Liu describes the main types of ancient Egyptian faience broadcollars, how faience beads were made, and how the collars were strung and worn. These forms of adornment were  an essential item of dress for the Egyptian elite. Examples are from extant museum specimens, as well as replicas made like those in antiquity by a contemporary maker, Carol Strick.