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In many cases, where gold has been discovered, it was found as an alloy with silver (i.e., electrum). At times, gold was also alloyed with lead, indicating that pure gold was generally more rare.<ref>For more information about gold in Mesopotamia, see: Leick, Gwendolyn. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia. 2nd ed. Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras, no. 26. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, pg. 79.
</ref> In fact, in addition to providing extra strength, alloys also allow the one to utilize more of gold find to create larger objects that look like gold. This gives an appearance of an even larger gold object.
[[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. ]]
By the early 3rd millennium BC, gold becomes symbolic with royal authority in Egypt. One has to remember the Great Pyramid, and other pyramids, were adorned with gold, in particular the top part of the pyramid was likely made of gold so that it could shine at a great distance. In part, for Egypt, the shine of gold resembled the sun's shinning characteristics, representing the chief god Ra for Egyptians.<ref>For more description on the qualities of gold and its association with Ra, see: Perl, Leila, and Erika Wells. 1988. ''Mummies, Tombs and Treasure : Secrets of Ancient Egypt''. London : Hodder and Stoughton. </ref>
To obtain more gold for both domestic consumption and trade, expeditions became organized by the royal authorities for mines containing gold. <ref>For more information about gold expeditions, see: Der Manuelian, Peter, and Thomas Schneider, eds. 2015. ''Towards a New History for the Egyptian Old Kingdom: Perspectives on the Pyramid Age''. Harvard Egyptological Studies, volume 1. Leiden ; Boston: Brill, pg. 445.</ref> In the Indus, by the 3rd millennium BC, and likely earlier, gold was also utilized extensively, reflecting its increased importance for elites and trade. Similar to other regions, gold was generally found as part of electrum, which is also a natural alloy. <ref>For more information about gold in the Indus, see: McIntosh, Jane. 2008. ''The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives. ABC-CLIO’s Understanding Ancient Civilizations Series''. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, pg. 145.</ref>
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==
