Everything You Need To Know To Sell Gold Online
Gold Before It Was Money
by Michael Locklear
Gold was highly valued by humans long before it was money. Ancient civilizations invested massive amounts of resources and man power in their search for gold thousands of years before the Lydians formed it into coins. Gold prospecting was a vital activity among many peoples.
Slaves and war prisoners were engaged in gold mining along with criminals when gold’s highest value was for jewelry and decoration. The Chinese, Egyptians, Indians, Hittites and Phoenicians all invested in the mining of gold. Perhaps the most famous of the gold hoarders were the Trojans.
As far back as 2450- 2600 BC the Trojans in what is now known as modern Turkey created a wide range of valuable gold objects ranging from jewelry to a golden gravy boat which weighed nearly a pound. In fact today the standard gold measurement is the troy ounce. Even then the rich and powerful use gold to make objects of religious devotion and use the precious metal in the decoration of their sacred sites .
One of the earliest uses of gold in this manner was done in Mesopotamia, now known as modern Iraq, where ancient goldsmiths created an elaborate piece of jewelry which was used as a burial headdress which incorporated lapis and carnelian beads; it also had Willow leaf shaped gold pendants.
Originally ancient miners employed water to drench gold bearing sand over the wool fleece of sheep in order to recover the fine traces of gold dust. This probably gives rise to the aging Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts who in 1200 BC were said to be in search of the Golden Fleece. Of course this refers to the fleece used in gold recovery.
After the miners had saturated the fleece with heavy specs of gold it was then hung out to dry and in turn was gently beaten in order to recover the gold held. Modern miners still use the water flushing method developed by these primitive miners to recover gold from streams and rivers. However, now they use a pan and not a fleece.
There have been many famous uses for gold in the holy places and burials throughout the world. However the most famous may be the funeral mask of Tutankhamen which is widely considered to be one of the greatest gold masterpieces ever created by man.
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