Gold in antiquity: Did you mean...?

The coinage of the Byzantine Empire continued that of its more ancient predecessors and functioned as a convenient method of payment for goods and services, especially to soldiers and officials, and as a means for people to pay their taxes...

A gold bangle from the Hoxne Hoard, Suffolk, 4th-5th century. The British Museum, London. The Hoxne Hoard was discovered in Suffolk, in the east of England in 1992. The incredible collection contains 14,865 late-4th- and early-5th-century...

Bowl, gold. c. 1100 BCE. Zurich-Altstetten. Canton of Zurich. With images of stags and does grazing under round suns and crescent moons, this heavy vessel made of pure gold depicts both heaven and earth. It was buried by a farming community...

The Oxus Treasure is a collection of 180 artifacts of precious metal, dated to the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE), which were discovered on the north bank of the Oxus River near the town of Takht-i Sangin in Tajikstan between 1876-1880...

A gold crown of the Silla kingdom, Korea. From the Auspicious Phoenix Tomb, Geumseong (Gyeongju), 5-6th century CE. The crown is made of sheet-gold and decorated with granulation and crescent-shaped jade pendants. The tree-like upright parts...

A gold crown of the Silla kingdom, Korea. From the Great Tomb at Hwangnam, Geumseong (Gyeongju), 5-6th century CE. The crown is made of sheet-gold and decorated with granulation and crescent-shaped jade pendants. The tree-like upright parts...

A gold staff finial made by the Zenúes, a people who belonged to the Zenú tribe of ancient Colombia. It features an owl on the edge with a majestic crest, polished golden wings and false filigree openwork on its chest. Distinctive features...

This gold aureus is one of the first Roman portrait coins. Roman Republican coins did not usually depict living people, although a statue of the politician Sulla appeared on a coin during his lifetime. The son of Pompey the Great adapted...

A gold Silla crown cap from Cheonmaching (the 'Heavenly Horse Tomb'), Gyeongju, Korea. It is made from four gold plates bent and riveted together. 6th century CE. National Treasure No. 189. (Gyeongju National Museum, South Korea)

Gold alloy (tumbaga), 500 BCE - 700 BCE. Colombia. Gold was an important material in ancient Colombia. It had a symbolic association with the creative energy of the Sun. This helmet would not have been used in battle but instead would...