Gold in antiquity: Did you mean...?

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 Moche gold headdress (1-700 CE). The figure represents a fanged deity, a common subject in Moche art. (Larco Museum, Lima)

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

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)

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)

Artist's impression of how Coronado's expedition may have looked, titled "Seekers of the Seven Cities of Gold, Coronado in the Chiricahaus".