As an adornment, Roman women used to wear bracelets and braces, most of them of cheap bronze with printed or carved decoration. The characteristic Roman bracelets could have the shape of a snake, a symbol of fertility, although the most common ones were simple rings either made of bronze or glass. Many women had their ears pierced to be able to wear earrings, it was common during Roman times, usually in the shape of a ring or with glass incrustations, butthere are almost no known examples made of bronze. Necklaces and other pendants were trinkets made of glass paste, as gemstones and semi-precious stones were more expensive and more difficult to acquire; they were often crimped with copper or silver threads or maybe with leather and vegetal fibres.