Gold finger ring with figure of Nike, Greece, 4th century BCE (Cleveland Museum of Art)

Gold is literally stardust, formed when two stars collide. It has an otherworldly glow and a beauty that humans have been drawn to since the beginning of history. Gold is extremely malleable but at the same time resistant to tarnish and corrosion. These physical properties have enabled cultures and civilizations around the world and across time to create beautiful objects from gold that have been preserved for millennia.

Fragment of gold jewelry excavated from the ancient site of Troy, 2500-2200 BCE, Istanbul Archaeological Museum (photo by Alexis Menten)

Gold was one of the first metals to be discovered by humans. In ancient times, as today, it could be found on the surface of the Earth’s crust as gold grains or nuggets, which often washed into streams and rivers (alluvial gold). As a way of panning for gold, the ancient Greeks would run water over an animal skin to capture the gold grains in its fur—perhaps the origin of the legend of the Golden Fleece. Gold was also mined, including from Egypt, which was a major source of gold in the ancient world. The enormous amount of gold found in the tomb of Tutankhamun would have been staggering even in ancient times.

Relief showing goldsmiths weighing and smelting gold to make collars and jewelry, tomb of Mereruka, Saqqara, Egypt, ca. 2349 BCE (Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago)

The ancient Egyptian word for gold, nbw or nub, was named after ancient Nubia where many of Egypt’s gold mines were located. The hieroglyph for gold is nebu, represented by an open gold necklace with six pendants. This hieroglyph can be seen across the top of the coin below, above the hieroglyph nefer, meaning good. Thus, the coin has been translated to read “fine gold,” a description of its composition.

Gold coin of Nectanebo II, Late Period, Egypt, ca. 360-343 BCE

In ancient Egypt, as in ancient cultures around the world, gold was sacred. Seemingly imbued with a mysterious and eternal power, gold has been associated with the heavens and with the gods from the earliest chapters of human history. Thus, ancient gold jewelry and artifacts give us insight into not only what people wore, but what they believed. Gold and jewelry were often given as offerings to the gods, found decorating temples and embellishing statues of deities.

Gold wreath on statuette, Etruscan ca. 800-200 BCE (Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia)

Across time, gold has also always been a means of bestowing wealth—as offerings for the gods, as heirlooms for future generations, and as grave goods for all eternity. In many ancient cultures, as today, gold jewelry was considered a type of currency and an investment to store wealth for the future. Gold coins worn as pendants, gold chains, and large bracelets and armlets made from solid gold were forms of personal savings and portable wealth.

Solid gold bracelet, Roman, ca. 1st-3rd century CE (Art Institute of Chicago)

As a highly valuable metal unlike any other, gold has always been valued. As such, it has always been melted down and reused across time, including today. The gold we wear today has traveled to Earth from beyond our solar system, and it has seen untold eras of natural and human history. Every piece of gold jewelry continues to tell the story of the power of nature and the artistry of humans.