Gold did not have value thousands of years ago

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Gold did not have value thousands of years ago - English pravda.ru

17.06.2015

It is generally believed that gold is a standard of the concept of value. However, it was not always the case. The tribes that were inhabiting Britain 4,500 years ago, used to trade gold jewelry, but preferred to sell them to outlanders, because they did not see gold as something valuable, Alistair Pike and his colleagues at Bristol University concluded as a result of their recent study.

"The results ... show that there was no universal value of gold, at least until perhaps the first gold coins started to appear nearly two thousand years later," said Dr. Pike, a co-author of the study. "Prehistoric economies were driven by factors more complex than the trade of commodities - belief systems clearly played a major role."

The researchers studied the isotopic composition of the Bronze Age jewelry found on the territory of modern Ireland. The jewelry was made of gold with a mixture of isotopes of lead typical of gold deposits located in Cornwall and other regions of the south-west of England.

The discovery startled the scientists, because there were gold deposits in Ireland back in those years. In Bronze Age, people did not have to travel to Cornwall to find gold as they could find it on the territory of modern Ireland. In Cornwall, though, gold jewelry is rare.

According to Dr. Pike, residents of modern Cornwall did not consider gold as a precious metal. They used to sell it to other peoples from other territories.

It just so happens that the British were eager to get rid of gold, while the Irish wanted to possess it. The researchers supposed that ancient inhabitants of the Emerald Isle could worship gold as a sacred metal. They could not dare to even touch their own gold deposits to avoid trouble.

Historical findings indicate that humans started mining gold in the 5th century BC, during the Neolithic period, when gold mostly existed in the form of nuggets. Systematic mining of gold was launched in the countries of the Middle East. In turn, the latter would supply gold jewelry to Egypt. In the tombs of Egyptian Queen Zer and one of the country's rulers Pu-abi of Ur, which belonged to the Sumerian civilization, scientists found gold jewelry dating back from the III millennium BC. Until recently, they were considered the most ancient gold jewelry in the world. It turns out today, though, that Cornish gold products found in Ireland are even more ancient.

In Russia, people started mining gold only during the era of Peter the Great. Prior to that, Russia was exporting gold in exchange for various goods. The gold mining era started in Russia in 1732 in the Arkhangelsk province. Its development began only in 1745 and continued until 1794 to produce only 65 kilograms of the precious metal during the entire period. The official date, when gold mining started in Russia is believed to be May 21 (June 1), 1745, when Erofey Markov said that he had found gold ore in the Urals.

Irina Shlionskaya

Pravda.Ru
 

Gold did not have value thousands of years ago - English pravda.ru

17.06.2015

It is generally believed that gold is a standard of the concept of value. However, it was not always the case. The tribes that were inhabiting Britain 4,500 years ago, used to trade gold jewelry, but preferred to sell them to outlanders, because they did not see gold as something valuable, Alistair Pike and his colleagues at Bristol University concluded as a result of their recent study.

"The results ... show that there was no universal value of gold, at least until perhaps the first gold coins started to appear nearly two thousand years later," said Dr. Pike, a co-author of the study. "Prehistoric economies were driven by factors more complex than the trade of commodities - belief systems clearly played a major role."

The researchers studied the isotopic composition of the Bronze Age jewelry found on the territory of modern Ireland. The jewelry was made of gold with a mixture of isotopes of lead typical of gold deposits located in Cornwall and other regions of the south-west of England.

The discovery startled the scientists, because there were gold deposits in Ireland back in those years. In Bronze Age, people did not have to travel to Cornwall to find gold as they could find it on the territory of modern Ireland. In Cornwall, though, gold jewelry is rare.

According to Dr. Pike, residents of modern Cornwall did not consider gold as a precious metal. They used to sell it to other peoples from other territories.

It just so happens that the British were eager to get rid of gold, while the Irish wanted to possess it. The researchers supposed that ancient inhabitants of the Emerald Isle could worship gold as a sacred metal. They could not dare to even touch their own gold deposits to avoid trouble.

Historical findings indicate that humans started mining gold in the 5th century BC, during the Neolithic period, when gold mostly existed in the form of nuggets. Systematic mining of gold was launched in the countries of the Middle East. In turn, the latter would supply gold jewelry to Egypt. In the tombs of Egyptian Queen Zer and one of the country's rulers Pu-abi of Ur, which belonged to the Sumerian civilization, scientists found gold jewelry dating back from the III millennium BC. Until recently, they were considered the most ancient gold jewelry in the world. It turns out today, though, that Cornish gold products found in Ireland are even more ancient.

In Russia, people started mining gold only during the era of Peter the Great. Prior to that, Russia was exporting gold in exchange for various goods. The gold mining era started in Russia in 1732 in the Arkhangelsk province. Its development began only in 1745 and continued until 1794 to produce only 65 kilograms of the precious metal during the entire period. The official date, when gold mining started in Russia is believed to be May 21 (June 1), 1745, when Erofey Markov said that he had found gold ore in the Urals.

Irina Shlionskaya

Pravda.Ru


I suppose those ancient societies that did not favor gold preferred fiat currency?

Jim
 

I suppose those ancient societies that did not favor gold preferred fiat currency?

Jim

No, they preferred food, clothing, water, and shelter. Gold was considered "money" only by convention and decree. If no king had ever declared that gold and silver would be considered money, then the only value it had to someone who possessed it was how happy it made them to own it (religious reasons, art, it's pretty, etc.). At what point would their needs for food, clothing, water, and shelter outweigh the "happiness" that gold brought them? For example, you have a cow. You need that cow to survive. How many people would trade that much needed cow for an ounce of shiny metal that no one had ever decreed to be worth anything? If all gold is to you is a shiny hunk of metal that can be used to make pretty things, why would you trade a cow that you need to survive for gold?

It isn't until a king decreed that gold had value BEYOND just being pretty that people decided that it was ok to trade their cow for it because they could then be confident that they would be able to trade it to someone else at a given exchange rate for the things they needed. Without decree.... gold is just a pretty hunk of metal. This is similar to the idea that without decree, fiat is just paper.
 

They bartered.
Don......

There was a time of development where luxuries became the fortunate rewards for those who led.

They bartered, which is the same darned thing we do at car lots today :)
 

Before the Spanish arrived, and 2,000 years after coins were first minted, the Incas still were not using coins; and gold was not a medium of exchange; except perhaps as a demand for tribute from vassal cultures. Inca gold was primarily used in the form of jewelry, adornments and decorations for their temples.
Don.....
 

I disagree with the thread title. If you read the bible, book of Daniel, in his dream King Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue with a head of gold. While I wont attach a specific date, it was "thousands of years ago".

Hmm, looks like we are getting down to that gold headed statue's feet of iron mixed with clay....
 

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