Famous uses of Gold
Egyptians
Egypt was known as a land of bountiful gold, but the commodity was often controlled by the king, and those of a higher royal status were often the individuals with a large collection of gold objects. Gold was used commonly to make jewellery, ornaments, death masks, diadems, ornamental weapons, among many other objects.
The most famous discovery of gold from Egypt was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, the only Egyptian burial tomb that has remained in a relatively intact state at the point of discovery. King Tutankhamun had three different coffins laid on top of one another. The first two that were unearthed were made from wood and covered with gold sheet but the innermost coffin was found to have been made from thick sheets of pure beaten gold. A death mask was also found which was constructed out of two sheets of gold that were hammered together and weighed over 10 kilograms
Greece
Mined throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East by 550 BCE, gold was mainly used in Greece as money. Along with the characteristics that gold possessed such as being durable, stable and noncorrosive, it was difficult to counterfeit hence making it an ideal currency in these civilisations. The Greeks also believed that gold was made from a dense combination of water and sunlight because tthe metal was usually found in streams
Cambodia
In 2007, in a town called Prohear in the Prey Veng province of South- eastern Cambodia, achaeologists observed looting of gold and silver ornaments from prehistoric burial sites. While much was lost, dozens of gold and silver rings, bracelets, and the like, were recovered. The finds are believed to be concrete evidence showing the beginning of goldsmiths’ handicrafts in Southeast Asia