Description Ethnic earrings with carnelian and Turkoman beads. The Turkmen (Turkoman) are a tribe who have lived in the harsh steppes of present-day Turkmenistan and neighboring Central Asian countries for thousands of years. Turkmen jewelry is notoriously large, with pieces worn on both the front and back of the body, as well as on the head, arms, and fingers. Some say that the large size of Turkmen jewelry is a vestigial form of the armor worn by Turkmen women who fought alongside their men in battle.