Everything You Need To Know About The History of Gold

Education & Learning July 27, 2021 Admin

In layman terms, gold is commonly known as a precious metal that is often used for making jewelry, but there is much more to the valuable yellow metal than just that. The history of gold is a fascinating tale, and the facts and tidbits about this precious metal make for an interesting read. In this article, we’ll dig a little and explore what exactly gold is, what the history of gold looks like, and what some interesting facts about gold are. Read on to find out more about this much-coveted yellow metal.

Before we look into the history of gold, let’s take a quick detour to understand what gold exactly is. Chemically, gold is an element that occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It is bright, dense, and soft, and it’s one of the least reactive elements known to man. Today, gold is widely used to make jewelry, and it’s also considered as a means of investment since its value typically rises or remains relatively stable.

The word “gold” is derived from the Germanic word gulþa, which translates to gold. The Old English word “geolu,” which means yellow, also influenced the use of the term “gold.” As for its chemical name, gold is called aurum after its Latin name, and its chemical is Au.

HISTORY OF GOLD

The true depth of the history of gold may have been lost to us, primarily because the first mining of the precious metal or its earliest discovery was never documented by earlier civilizations. However, with the archeological evidence we have, the history of gold artifacts dates back to the 4th millennium BC. Artifacts made from gold dating back to this period have been found in the Nahal Ana cave cemetery in Israel, and in the Varna Necropolis in Bulgaria.

Uses of Gold in Ancient Times

A detailed look into the history of gold reveals that even in ancient times, man was fascinated by gold. Although gold seemed to have been more plentiful than dirt, as Egyptian hieroglyphics from 2600 BC claim, the ancient people considered gold as a revered metal. Gold was one of the first metals to be mined, primarily because of the ease with which it can be extracted and used. Unlike other metals like iron, gold occurs in a relatively pure form in nature.

In ancient times, gold was associated with the gods, with immortality, and with wealth itself, across many cultures throughout the world, such as Egyptian, Roman, and Greek civilizations. Even back then, the metal was intuitively equated with power, beauty, and the cultural elite, and a high value was placed on the metal. The temples and the tombs of the pharaohs were decorated with gold and gilded artifacts. Evidence of these uses in the history of gold include the discoveries made in the tomb of Tutankhamun, among which were several golden treasures.

Similarly, the graves of nobles at the ancient Citadel of Mycenae in Greece, which were discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876, yielded a variety of gold figurines, masks, cups, diadems, and jewelry, along with hundreds of decorated beads and buttons.

The History of Gold as a Medium of Exchange

Another interesting landmark in the history of gold was its use as a means of exchange, primarily in the form of gold coins. Before gold coinage came about, gold was measured out and tended as money. Even after paper currency was introduced, paper money was typically issued as a receipt redeemable for gold coin or bullion. Until the late 1900s, the gold standard system was used to measure the value of a unit of currency.

In addition, a few $1,000-face value bags of pre-1965 U.S. silver coins might also be worth consideration. U.S. silver dollars are often recommended for this purpose (their greatest advantage is that they, too, fall under the 1933 dateline with respect to confiscation) but their premium is relatively high. Silver rounds and one-ounce silver coins of various manufacture, including the U.S. and Canadian mints, are another alternative, although their premiums are higher as well.