Astral cults played a significant role in the religious beliefs of the ancient peoples of the Central Asia. They worshipped heaven and the heavenly bodies -- sun, moon, and the stars. Placed on clothing, jewelry, household items and homes, astral symbols offered protection from evil spirits. The cult of heavenly bodies gained popularity in the Bronze Age, although traces of it can be found as early as the Neolithic Age. G. Kyun in The Art of Prehistoric People writes the following: “during the Neolithic period, world is populated by countless imaginary beings endowed with supernatural power ... stars and flowers are alive” (L.1933, p.53, 56). In the middle of Paleolithic age, for example, necklaces made out of drilled through shells often served as decorations, along with feathers and flowers.

Researchers interpret common stone structures of that period as temples of the Sun. Avesta, the holy book of Zoroastrianism, describes the special sacred properties of light (Avesta is based on an old oral tradition, encoded during the Sasanids in the 3rd-7th centuries. Avesta consisted of twenty one volumes, but only one quarter of the text survived until our days. It is believed that the Avesta was written in the first half of the first millennium BC). 
In the pagan religions sun and moon worship was widely spread; sun allegedly served as the divine protector of brides, moon – of grooms.

This holy marriage introduced a prototype of human marriage. Human marriages were patronized by the sun and the moon. Cross and crescent were seen as a symbol of marriage; in the Central Asia, crescent later became a symbol of Islam, while crosses placed over crescents on churches have been interpreted as victory of Christianity over Islam. It is difficult to agree with such interpretation. We suggest that such a combination symbolized creation of the universe. We know that in the ancient minds, human relationships were reflected in the relationship between the forces of nature, between heaven and earth. Heaven and Earth represented the people’s understanding of space and universe, and were worshipped and given sacrificial gifts.

Sun and Moon were also thought of as divine beings, adversaries of all unclean and evil forces. Their cleansing and reproducing qualities are confirmed by the relics of a once-existing cult of celestial bodies. Men construed their religious beliefs associated with the ancient celestial deities regardless of their own creed and ethnicity. The ancient Buryats used a crescent moon as a sign of ownership and placed it on household items, utensils, and clothing. Shamans of the Evenki people wore costumes adorned by metal pendants with images of sky, sun and moon. In ancient China, the sky was represented by a circle (symbol of eternity) and land by a square. The sun and moon symbolized East and West. Researchers associate most of the geometric elements with astral mythology, which is fairly consistent among most peoples. Among these elements is a circle -- a solar symbol, arcs, derived from the circle, semicircles, cross shapes, lunar motives. Spiral ornaments found on vessels from the Middle Stone ages symbolize the passing of time – movement of the Sun. Occasionally, the moon is depicted alongside the sun in the center of a spiral. It is possible that the image of solar and lunar phases were used as measuring instruments and indicators of time.

Close contact of the ancient peoples with nature, their relationships with other ethnicities, their religion, rituals and beliefs are reflected in the design of their jewelry. Often, jewelry items remain the only witnesses to the historical events of a certain era. Only by studying the remaining pieces of jewelry, we can restore the chronological sequence of cultural development of a people and its history. Researchers and historians are beginning to pay close attention to the art of jewelry, understanding its value to history and anthropology.

Jewelry is one of the most ancient man-produced crafts. Many scientists and historians view the art of jewelry as the birth of artistic movement, and recognize it as the greatest discovery that has no equals in the history of art.

One of the most favorite decorative elements is a circle, followed by a crescent. The first jewelry was made out of animal bones, stones, wood, and finally out of metal (from the Greek metallon - mine, a substance extracted from the mine became known as metal. The first metal that replaced stones was copper).