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→Early Use of Gold
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By the early 3rd millennium BC, gold becomes symbolic with royal authority in Egypt. Expeditions were now organized for mines containing gold. <ref>For more information about gold expeditions, see: Der Manuelian, Peter, and Thomas Schneider, eds. 2015. Towards a New History for the Egyptian Old Kingdom: Perspectives on the Pyramid Age. Harvard Egyptological Studies, volume 1. Leiden ; Boston: Brill, pg. 445.</ref> In the Indus, by the 3rd millennium BC, and likely earlier, gold was also utilized extensively, reflecting its increased importance for elites and trade. Similar to other regions, gold was generally found as part of electrum, which is also a natural alloy. <ref>For more information about gold in the Indus, see: McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives. ABC-CLIO’s Understanding Ancient Civilizations Series. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, pg. 145.</ref>
In the New World, the region of the Andes, in Peru specifically, has the earliest dated gold finds, where objects date to around 2000 BC have been found. Interestingly, these early gold finds are in the form of jewelry and found in burial context, similar to the Old World discoveries. This could suggest, similar to other regions, that as social hierarchy and stratification became established, gold was one object that differentiated the status of humans within society. In other words, gold becomes associated with wealth and power soon after it begins to be used (Figure 2).
