4000 B.C.
Cultures centered in what today is Eastern Europe, begin 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, using a series of 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, Egypt.
1500 B.C.
The gold-bearing regions of Nubia make Egypt a very wealthy nation, as gold becomes the recognized standard medium of exchange for all trade. The Shekel is a coin that originally weighed approx. 11.3 grams of gold. It 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.
Babylonians begin to use fire assay to test the purity of gold.
1200 B.C.
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 are dried and shaken out to dislodge the gold particles. The practice is most likely the inspiration for the “Golden Fleece”.
1091 B.C.
Little squares of gold are legalized in China as a form of money.
560 B.C.
The first coins made purely from gold are minted in Lydia, a kingdom of Asia Minor.
344 B.C.
Alexander the Great crosses the Hellespont with 40,000 men, beginning one of the most extraordinary campaigns in military history and seizing vast quantities of gold from the Persian Empire.
300 B.C.
Greeks and Jews of ancient Alexandria begin to practice alchemy, the quest of turning base metals into gold. The search reaches its pinnacle from the late Dark Ages through the Renaissance.
218 B.C. – 202 B.C.
During the second Punic War with Carthage, the Romans gain access to the gold mining region of Spain and recover gold through stream gravels and hard rock mining.
58 B.C.
After a victorious campaign in Gaul, Julius Caesar brings back enough gold to give 200 coins to each of his soldiers and repay all of Rome’s debts.
50 B.C.
Romans begin issuing a gold coin called the Aureus.
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