Gold in antiquity: Did you mean...?

A gold bead from the dolmen d'Er Roh, La Trinite Sur Mer, France, 2200-2000 BCE. Vannes Archaeological Museum, France.

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

An aerial view of Gold Beach during the D-Day Normandy Landings of 6 June 1944. The smoke is from German defensive positions struck by Allied naval and air bombardment. (Imperial War Museums)

Gold stater from Lydia, reign of Croesus, 560-546 BCE. O: Lion and ox. R: Two incuse squares.

A gold solidus from Antioch depicting Emperor Julian, 361-363 CE. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

Gold disk earrings with filigree decoration. Tomb 22, southern necropolis, Herakleia, southern Italy. 4th century BCE. (Archaeological Museum of Siritide, Policoro, Italy)

The interior hollow surface of the earring. Note how the carved cuneiform signs appear on this side and how the goldsmith joined the “lunar-shaped” segments of the earring. One of a pair of gold earrings, 24 carats. Gift from Shulgi to a...

This is the upper surface of the earring . The right lower circle is broken and at the center of the trifoliate group lies a single golden sphere. The cuneiform text is read vertically, from the upper surface downwards on each segment, and...

The convex and carved surfaces of the earrings. Each earring is composed of nine lunar-shaped segments forming a flattened half- ball. The cuneiform signs run vertically from above downward, starting from the right end. A pair of gold earrings...

Gold shield with the head of god Sebiumeker. From the treasure of the Nubian queen Amanishakheto, pyramid N6, Meroe, modern-day northern Sudan. Meroitic period, around 1 CE. (State Museum of Egyptian Art, Munich, Germany).