Gold in antiquity: Did you mean...?

A gold rhinoceros from a burial site at Mapungubwe, South Africa. 11-14th century CE. (University of Pretoria Museums, South Africa)

A beaten gold mask from the Nazca civilization of Peru, 200 BCE-500 CE. 18.4 x 20.5 cm. The mask may represent a shaman in transformational pose, a common motif in Nazca art. An alternative interpretation is that it represents the weeping...

A Chimu gold rattle, 1100-1470 CE. The figure, with earspools and headdress, represents a member of the Chimu ruling class and was a common motif in Chimu art. (Art Institute of Chicago)

A page of the 1554 Codex Tepetlaoztoc showing the collection of gold tribute by Spanish colonial authorities in New Spain (Mexico). (British Museum, London)

Almoravid dynasty (1056-1147 CE) gold coin from the reign of 'Abdallah ibn 'Iyad. 1146 CE. (British Museum, London)

A Muisca (Chibcha) seated gold figure on a stool (tunjo). Colombia, 10th-16th century CE. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

A gold fibula decorated with five lions (upper portion) and 50 ducks (lower portion) from the Etruscan Regoliini-Galassi Tomb at Cerveteri. 7th century BCE. (Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican Museums, Rome)

A gold ibex figurine from Akrotiri on Thera (Santorini), 17th century BCE. The figurine was discovered in 1999 CE in mint condition having been originally placed inside a wooden box within a clay chest. It is hollow and was made using the...

A Mycenaean gold ring depicting a hunting scene. From Grave Circle A, Mycenae, 16th century BCE. (National Archaeological Museum, Athens)

Macedonian gold stater from the reign of Philip II, 359-356 BCE. O: Head of Apollo. R: Charioteer driving a racing biga.