History Gold

4000 B.C. A culture, centered in what is today Eastern Europe,
begins to use gold to fashion decorative objects. The
gold was probably mined in the Transylvanian Alps or
the Mount Pangaion area in Thrace.
3000 B.C. The Sumer civilization of southern Iraq uses gold to
create a wide range of jewelry, often using
sophisticated and varied styles still worn today.
2500 B.C. Gold jewelry is buried in the Tomb of Djer, king of the
First Egyptian Dynasty, at Abydos, Egypt.
1500 B.C. The immense gold-bearing regions of Nubia make
Egypt a wealthy nation, as gold becomes the
recognized standard medium of exchange for
international trade.
The Shekel, a coin originally weighing 11.3 grams of
gold, becomes a standard unit of measure in the
Middle East. It contained a naturally occurring alloy
called electrum that was approximately two-thirds
gold and one-third silver.
1350 B.C. The Babylonians begin to use fire assay to test the
purity of gold.
1200 B.C. The Egyptians master the art of beating gold into leaf
to extend its use, as well as alloying it with other
metals for hardness and color variations. They also
start casting gold using the lost-wax technique
that today is still at the heart of jewelry making.
Unshorn sheepskin is used to recover gold dust from
river sands on the eastern shores of the Black Sea.
After slucing the sands through the sheepskins, they