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Gold is first known to have been acquired by ancient human societies in the 4th millennium BC, a time when copper and metals were beginning to be utilized more frequently. The use of gold expanded during this period because pyrotechnologies improved. As pyrotechnologies improved metals such as gold and copper became more flexible. In fact, when gold appears in the New World, it also appears to be associated with the early development of pyrotechnologies, suggesting gold develops early as metallurgy developed. This likely also means gold, and its luster properties, were desired early on by societies able to master pyrotechnologies to extract and create gold artifacts.
==Early Use of Gold==
One of the oldest known uses of gold appears to be in Bulgaria, from a site that is called Varna Necropolis or Varna Cemetery, which dates to around 4600 BC.<ref>For detailed information about the Varna Necropolis, see: Ivanov, Ivan Simeonov, and Mai︠a︡ Avramova, eds. 2000. ''Varna Necropolis: The Dawn of European Civilization''. Treasures of Bulgaria 1. Sofia: Agatʹo Publ.</ref> The site is a burial ground were a number of gold artifacts were found to be in burial contexts associated with a variety of individuals. Surprisingly, out of the more than 200 graves found, many of them contained gold and other metal finds (primarily copper; Figure 1). This indicates a society that had already developed a strong affinity toward gold and it became a status object for many members of society. However, we also begin to see that not all individuals were treated equally. One individual seemed to have far more gold buried with him, with objects including a gold mace, jewelry, and even a penis sheath made of gold (Figure 2). This could indicate that this society had begun to develop a type of chiefdom society, where one individual did accumulate more power than others and consequently have more gold than the other graves.
In the New World, the region of the Andes, in Peru specifically, has the earliest dated gold finds, where objects date to around 2000 BC. Interestingly, these early gold finds are in the form of jewelry and found in burial context, similar to the Old World discoveries. <ref> For more information about the earliest gold artefacts from Peru, see: Aldenderfer, M., N. M. Craig, R. J. Speakman, and R. Popelka-Filcoff. 2008. “Four-Thousand-Year-Old Gold Artifacts from the Lake Titicaca Basin, Southern Peru.” ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 '' (13): 5002–5. doi:10.1073/pnas.0710937105. </ref> This could suggest, similar to other regions, that as social hierarchy and stratification became established, gold was one object that differentiated the status of humans within society. In other words, gold becomes associated with wealth and power soon after it begins to be used (Figure 3). [[File:Peru Zeremonialmesser Sican EthnM.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 3. A ceremonial knife from Peru, dated to 850-1500 AD, showing that gold developed independently in the New World. ]]
==Role in Society==
[[File:Reconstructed sumerian headgear necklaces british museum.JPG|thumbnail|Figure 4. The gold headdress of Queen/Priestess Puabi. Gold, by the 3rd millennium BC, had become associated with royalty and the religious elite of society in Mesopotamia and Egypt.]]
In the cases where gold was found at relatively early dates, several characteristics are evident. For one, gold is often found in funerary contexts, suggesting it was both a status symbol in life but also something to be taken to the next life. Interestingly, in many of the finds from the Old and New World indicate that gold, despite its rarity, was from its onset a way to display power in the afterlife and as a way to remind others of the power and prestige of the individual to members of society after they had passed away. <ref>Boyle, Robert W. 1987. ''Gold History and Genesis of Deposits''. Boston, MA: Springer US. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1969-6.</ref> This concept continues when we see the development of state societies. Kingship, and by extension the state, begin to utilize gold more frequently for burials and in many of these cases it was a way to display power in the present and afterlife.
It is also by the 3rd millennium BC that we begin to see gold having more of a trade value, although very likely this occurred earlier. We see evidence of gold being shipped in from distant regions, such as India or Anatolia, in places such as Mesopotamia. In the 2nd millennium BC, when the trade in gold became more substantial in the eastern Mediterranean region, it is during this active time of trade that gold becomes also a standard used to measure value of other commodities. Between In fact, gold, between 1600-1200 BC, or the Late Bronze Age saw gold , was becoming the basis of value for many valuable objects now being traded between Central Asia and the Mediterranean, including metals such as tin and copper. <ref> For more information on the Late Bronze Age gold standard, see: Edwards, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen, ed. 2003. ''History of the Middle East and the Aegean Region C. 1380 - 1000 B.C. '' 3. ed., 6. printing. The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 2, Pt. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.</ref> However, this was a relatively exceptional period, as in most other Bronze Age periods silver was considered the more common standard, given its greater prevalence. <ref>For a history of gold and its role in ancient societies, see: Bernstein, Peter L. 2004. The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession. Illustrated ed. New York: Wiley. </ref>
==Evolution of Gold==
During the 1st millennium BC, by around the 6th century BC in the Near East and eastern Mediterranean Hellenistic states, we begin to see coins now utilized with gold.<ref>For more on the evolution of early coins and gold coins, see: Leslie Kurke. 1999. Coins, Bodies, Games and Gold. The Politics of Meaning in Archaic Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press.</ref> In fact, it is one of the first metals to be fashioned into coins, suggesting gold coins and coins i general were first intended for high value exchange. While this largely reflects gold’s role as an object utilized for trade and exchange, it now also shows royal authority was beginning to stamp gold with iconography as a way to show government-level backing. This derives from the concept of gold and royalty we had seen in the third millennium BC graves and other royal or high elite status. In effect, coinage and gold become established as the privy of the state <ref>For a history and presentation of types of ancient gold coins, see Friedberg, Arthur L., Ira S. Friedberg, and Robert Friedberg. 2003. ''Gold Coins of the World: From Ancient Times to the Present: An Illustrated Standard Catalogue with Valuations''. 7th ed. Clifton, N.J: Coin and Currency Institute.</ref>
Eventually, as gold coins continue to be utilized, the use of gold and how much gold in coins becomes standardized more substantially. The concept accelerates in the late 1st millennium BC across the Mediterranean world, where gold is always the top-level currency and can only be minted by the governments controlling a given region. This concept of gold currency continues into the Medieval world, in particular for Europe after the reemergence of states.<ref>For example of gold and how it was used for currency in the Medieval World, see: Allen, Martin. 2012. Mints and Money in Medieval England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. </ref>. Arguably, one of the chief motivations for the Spanish conquests in the New World was gold and much of that became refashioned into gold-level currency used by the governing bodies and banks of Spain after their conquest. This helped launch Spain and other European powers eventually into a global race not only for power but one can argue a race to accrue as much gold as possible, as it symbolized the new power of Europe.
==Conclusion==
Gold can be seen to be something of great desire in many societies in the New and Old worlds (the Americas, Asia, and Africa). Despite the diversity of the location of where gold was first found, at the onset gold was seen as a way to differentiate the power of individuals, in this life and the afterlife. This suggests the qualities of gold as being attractive to human societies seems almost universal or innate. Gold utilization in societies evolves over time as a basis for economies. By the time currency or coins are used, gold becomes a high level standard that royal authority can only support and uses as a basis in economic exchange by placing the image of the king on currency. This begins to make gold as something to be controlled by state societies and their primary privy rather than that of common individuals. With the control of gold by governments, this begins to help standardize its value and this concept continues into the modern era, while gold’s value and importance to society has only increased since ancient periods.
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==References==
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