Gold in antiquity: Did you mean...?

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

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 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 Mycenaean gold ring depicting a hunting scene. From Grave Circle A, Mycenae, 16th century BCE. (National Archaeological Museum, Athens)

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)

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 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...

Strings of gold beads in the form of rosettes, papyrus and lillies from Mycenae area (14th century BCE). Nafplio Archaeological Museum.

Egyptian inlaid gold bracelets belonging to Prince Nimlot, one of the sons of Sheshonq I, the first king of the 22nd Dynasty. About 940 BCE. Said to be from Sa el-Haggar (Sais), Egypt. From The British Museum, (photo taken at The Powerhouse...