From antiquity to the presentday, gold has played a role in the course of human history through itsinfluence in a wide variety of realms—spiritual, cultural, political,scientific, and economic. Access to significant supplies of gold can be creditedwith contributing to the rise of powerful states and empires, whiledevaluation of gold currency or an outflow of gold from state or royaltreasuries has contributed to the downfall of mighty rulers andgovernments, such as those in ancient Rome,Byzantium, the SpanishEmpire, and Tudor England. In the contemporary era, maintaining a goldsupply and monitoring the domestic gold market remains a crucial toolutilized by policymakers in the realm of global economic foreignrelations, as evidenced by the careful policies of China since 2008 inimplementing financial reforms designed to maintain the strength of theyuan in the face of a weak U.S. dollar. Pursuit of gold has been theforce behind significant conquests, voyages of discovery and exploration,and imperial expansion through colonization. Gold reinforced social andpolitical boundaries by serving as a carefully regulated status symbol,restricted to only certain social groups or castes, in cultures aroundthe world. Ancient alchemists and religious leaders held that goldoffered direct access to god and constituted a symbol of nature’sperfection that was also thought to have tangible healing or life-givingproperties. Such beliefs contributed to the development of modern science,with alchemy providing the foundations of the field of chemistry and ancient goldsmithing techniques offering engineers a range of formulas forpractical scientific applications of gold in industrial and technologicaladvancements. Gold’s purely aesthetic beauty contributed to magnificentfeats of art and architecture from the shining halls of the pharaohs’palaces to the mosaics in the Hagia Sophia and the opulence of Versailles. Whethercherished as a medium of trusted monetary exchange or as a divine object,gold has captivated humankind for thousands of years.
The Formation of Gold and its Physical Properties
Goldis a noble metal identified on the Periodical Table of the Elements as thechemical element Au based on the Romance etymology of the word “gold,”which derives from the Latin word for gold— aurum. Gold is a uniqueelement because it exists most commonly in its native form, notconsisting of any other minerals or elements. In this form it appearswith a lustrous metallic gold color. Gold is highly resistant tooxidization from exposure to oxygen or other substances, and thus is lesssusceptible to corrosion. It is soft and pliable, yet extremely durableand dense. Gold is biocompatible and has significant levels ofconductivity, while at the same time remaining chemically inert. Each ofthese unique properties and attributes, along with the fact that gold is relatively rare when compared to available quantities of other metals,contributes to gold’s historically high value as both a commodity and aform of money. Geologists assert that gold formed over time in a varietyof ways. Scholars continue to actively research and explore the originand placement of gold sources in various types of rock formations andenvironmental settings. Some of the most ancient gold deposits occurred2.5 billion years ago in what are known as “greenstone belts,” alongwhich geologists posit that a sizeable gold-forming event occurred in themetamorphic rock when the earth’s plates collided amid volcanic and tectonic activity. The next phase in which supplies of gold formed in diverse types ofrock occurred 1.5 billion years ago, and then again 400 million yearsago. No signifi cant gold formation activity was thought to occurcontinuously or in the human era. Scientists have identified a widevariety of ways gold potentially forms, principal among these processesare formation through a process of magmatic hydrothermal cooling systemsin which water heated by magma sources is propelled upward to cooler rocklevels toward the surface, during which precious metals dissolve from thesurrounding rock and then precipitate into lode ore sources, or as theproduct of chemical reactions caused by the interaction of sulphuricvapors with diverse aqueous substances. Over time, gold was uprooted outof lode ore sources in various types of rock and deposited in alluvial sourcesdue to weathering and water fl ow. An understanding of the chronology andgeological origins and distribution of mineral emplacements thatcontributed to the formation of gold over time, along with studies ofweathering patterns and typical patterns in the formation of quartz veins, assists geologists in surveying areas for potential gold miningoperations and in the development of more efficient, cost-effectivemethods for extracting gold.
A Human Element: Gold from Antiquity to the Present
Along with other advancements such as writingand agriculture, metalworking techniques, especially those used to craftobjects in gold, are a hallmark of what archeologists and anthropologistsidentify as “civilization.” In the study of ancient societies, thequality and level of gold artifacts is often viewed as a reflection ofthe sophistication of a culture’s social organization or religiouspractices, or as signifying a more advanced ideology. The 1973 discoveryof a series of tombs filled with highly skilled metal work dating fromthe fifth millennium BC in the Varnanecropolis, along the lower DanubeRiver valley in present-day Bulgaria,represented one of the largest and most ancient assemblages of gold artifactsin human history, consisting of 3,000 pieces of gold distributed among 62 gravesites. The product of a civilization identifi ed as Old Europe, theseartifacts revolutionized the way anthropologists viewed early Europeansocieties previously thought to have consisted of simple, egalitarian social orders. Instead, the burials at the Varna necropolis signaled the existence of a stratifi ed society and the emergence of male social dominance, socialconditions evident largely from the placement and scope of the goldobjects among the graves. This early culture straddling the Neolithic andthe Bronze Ages appeared to have traded copper, gold, precious stones, andother items as primitive forms of commodity with other settlements in theregion, evidence of more advanced and wide-reaching economic activity inwhich such valuables served as status symbols. Gold artifacts excavatedfrom a burial complex dating from the third millennium BC at the site ofthe Great Ziggurat of Ur, an ancient Sumerian civilization located alongthe Euphrates River in present-day southern Iraq, reveal the development ofadvanced goldsmithing techniques such as filigree, lost-wax casting, andgilding; as well as the function of gold in a hierarchical Bronze Age societyas a symbol of royalty or nobility. Around the same period, these methodswere also utilized among ancient pre-Colombian civilizations in thePeruvian highlands. During the period from 1500 to 1200 BC, the palacesand tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs were adorned with exquisite works ofgold as goldsmiths mastered a variety of techniques and rulers took careto preserve Egypt’s access to gold mines in Nubia and the trade routesthat brought gold and other precious commodities considered essential forstrengthening the wealth and prestige of the Egyptian dynasties. By 1000BC, gold was officially used as a form of monetary exchange in China, and by the sixth century BC, King Croesusbegan to mint a form of official gold coinage in the Anatolian kingdom of Lydia that helped to foster regionaltrade relations and preserve the territory’s legendary wealth. The OldTestament contains hundreds of references to gold and its uses in thekingdoms of Israel, Judah, and surrounding states extending asfar as Africa from as early as ca. 1200 BC.In the fourth century BC, the Macedonian king Alexander the Greatconquered the gold-rich lands of Persia and the Near East in a campaignthat widened the power and influence of Greek culture and filled westerncoffers with gold, setting off centuries of expansion of Greek and,later, Roman civilizations, in which access to gold sources in African,Near Eastern, eastern European, and Iberian mines was an essential toolof foreign conquest and settlement and a critical strategy for the preservation of political power.Throughoutantiquity in cultures around the globe, gold was considered precious notonly as a means of wealth but also for a range of physical and spiritual properties ascribed to the lustrous metal, often viewed as a direct product ofthe divine because of its beauty, durability, and apparent perfection.Beginning as early as the Bronze Age, there is evidence for the emergenceof the deeply ancient protoscientific and occult practice of alchemy, a questto transmutate base metals such as lead into gold. Ancient alchemicalwritings exist from the Mediterranean region, the Near East, and Asia,and by classical antiquity, were concentrated among Greek and Jewishscholars in Alexandria,where ancient Egyptian and Hermetic texts containing the keys and formulas tothe mystical tradition were housed in the library. The prevalence ofalchemy across cultures reflects more common perceptions of a connectionbetween gold and the divine as manifest in nature’s perfection. Gold wasthus considered to possess the power to prolong or immortalize life bytapping in to this spiritual connection, an ideology that parallels the veryevolution and purpose of religious practices in human cultures. From theIncan perception of gold as the “sweat of the sun” to Aristoteliantheories of the elements and human life, gold’s purported spiritual andmystical attributes epitomized the very aspirations of humanity toachieve life beyond the temporal world.
The economic, artistic, spiritual, andpolitical significance and value of gold seemed to converge during lateantiquity and the early Middle Ages in a wide variety of cultures—in therise of the Byzantine Empire, among the Celtic tribes of northern Europeand Britain, the South Korean kingdom of Silla, and in the Chinese dynasties, to name only a few. Gold’s range of uses supported the fabricof human life: in coronation ceremonies, it reinforced kingship and thepower of the state; in religious rituals, it facilitated access to Godand the ascendancy of priestly classes; it generated prestige andcommunicated religious and political ideologies through art and architecture;it reinforced social hierarchies as an indication of status; itcontributed to the expansion of literacy and the culture of the book in the illuminated manuscripts produced by scribes in early medieval scriptoria;it perpetuated marriage and family ties as a predominant type of dowry;and it contributed to the expansion of international trade and, in turn,global navigation and exploration, as a transportable and widely acceptedform of monetary exchange. During the medieval period, gold was anessential component of the formation of the merchant republics andcity-states in Europe, in which the rise ofthe modern state and the development of capitalist economies occurred.Advanced minting practices guaranteed standardized systems of value forgold coins, such as the Venetian ducat or the florin of the Florentine Republic, providing currenciesthat were accepted as money of account in international markets. Gold asa form of monetary exchange thus facilitated economic expansion and theearly development of systems of banking and credit in the goldsmiths andmoney changer guilds. Creation of wealth during the 14th and 15thcenturies, emanating from the increasingly powerful merchant and tradesmanclass, generated a new form of material culture, a trend that fosteredmuch of the patronage of art and literature during the Renaissance byfueling demand with new patterns of spending disposable wealth. Gold wasthus central to the circumstances behind the phenomenon of RenaissanceItaly, a period when renewed appreciation for the ideologies and practices of Greek and Roman antiquity and revolutionary new attitudesabout natural philosophy, civic life, and individuality coalesced to formwhat historian Jacob Burkhardt considered to be the nucleus of modern society. The emergence of more sophisticated economies during the Renaissancecontributed to the predominance of political centralization in Europe andthe Middle East that came to be known asthe “rise of the modern state” in the early modern era. Maintaining astrong treasury with adequate gold reserves; upholding authoritativemonetary policy, regulating the flow of gold and silver bullion, and mintingnational coinage; and sustaining opulent patronage of the arts as ademonstration of power and authority in courtly life were essentialcomponents of empire building and balance-of-power politics among thegreat powers of Europe and the Mediterranean from the 16th to the 18thcentury. Demand for gold in this period created a need for greaterterritorial expansion and access to efficient trade routes, which set inmotion centuries of discovery and exploration that resulted in Europeansettlement and colonization of North and South America, India,Africa, and Asia. In order to support thewidening bureaucratic and economic functions of the state, banking andcredit institutions expanded and modern academic disciplines developed incolleges and universities to advise rulers and government administrators.Gold thus influenced the establishment of modern economic theory,chemistry, natural history, geology, and industrial technology.Following the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in California’s SacramentoRiver Valley in 1848, and subsequent 19th-century gold rushes inAustralia, the Klondike, and South Africa, the global production of goldincreased tenfold, a phenomenon that led to the western expansion of theUnited States, scientific and technological advancements in the miningindustry, and a level of gold reserve assets that made the era of thegold standard possible between 1880 and the 1930s, when 59 countriesaround the world adopted a currency pegged to either a uniform goldstandard or a gold exchange standard. During this period, statesmen andeconomic advisers considered gold to be integrally tied to the power andlegitimacy of the state. Even after the gold standard becameunsustainable in the economic environment of post–World War II globaleconomies, economists and political leaders clung fiercely to the idea ofthe need to maintain currencies convertible into gold equivalents. Manyleaders shared the sentiment of French economist Jacques Rueff who fearedthe collapse of the gold standard would undermine the preservation offree democratic society. Adherence to the gold standard had fosteredcredibility and cooperation among nations and was thought to havecontributed to the creation of political and economic stability indeveloping regions.
At the beginning of the 21st century, globaleconomic crisis and the erosion of faith in banking and creditinstitutions triggered an unprecedented increase in the price of gold anda resurgence of investment in gold as an asset. When in doubt, it seems,humankind still retains a deep regard and faith in gold’s supreme and enduring value. Indeed, it is ironic that during periods of strife or crisis,scholars, politicians, and citizens have often weighed in on gold’sfunction in contemporary society, and in doing so engaged in an ancientdebate. Perhaps gold’s ultimate purpose in human history will prove to bereminiscent of the myth in which the ancient Athenian philosopher Solonreminded King Croesus of Lydia that human happiness may run a course atpace with riches but is never simply based on wealth.
Gold
ACultural Encyclopedia
SHANNON L. VENABLE
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