Ancient trade route shows gold's enduring power
A new has shed more light on how the value of gold has endured聽鈥� and changed聽鈥撀爏ince ancient times.
Archeologists at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom have discovered a prehistoric gold trade route between Ireland and southwest England that dates as far back as the Bronze Age, or about 2500 B.C. The route鈥檚 existence implies that gold workers in Ireland chose to import the metal from Cornwall despite likely knowing how to extract the material from local deposits 鈥� suggesting variations in how the two cultures regarded gold, according to Dr. Chris Standish, the study鈥檚 lead author.
鈥淭his implies gold was leaving the region [of Cornwall] because those who found it felt it was of more value to trade it in for other 鈥榙esirable鈥� goods 鈥� rather than keep it,鈥� he . In Ireland, on the other hand, it was 鈥減robable that an 鈥榚xotic鈥� origin was cherished as a key property of gold and was an important reason behind why it was imported for production,鈥� Dr. Standish noted.
The findings support the idea that gold鈥檚 value in ancient times was more closely tied to belief systems than to outright economic value, the way it is today.
After all, it wasn鈥檛 until 聽that gold became a standard medium of exchange for international trade. It was another millennium before King Croesus of Lydia ordered the minting of the first gold coins.
The ancient Egyptians, for instance, associated with the sun, leading them to bury their dead surrounded by golden jewelry and other items. In pre-colonial South America, gold was also regarded as : The Incas believed gold was 鈥�,鈥� while ancient Colombians to cover the skin of a monarch 鈥� a practice that may have led to the legends of El Dorado.
Similar beliefs may have driven the inhabitants of ancient Ireland to international trade, the University of Southampton study suggests:
Materials originating from distant, unfamiliar, or mythical lands, those located outside the immediate world-view or cosmos of a society, could be charged with mystical and/or supernatural powers. [And] people involved in acquiring these mythically-charged materials, transforming them into artifact form, or controlling their deployment, were inherently linked with 鈥� the associated powers.
鈥淭he results 鈥� 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,鈥� said Dr. Alistair Pike, a co-author of the study. 鈥淧rehistoric economies were driven by factors more complex than the trade of commodities 鈥� belief systems clearly played a major role.鈥�
In conducting their study, Dr. Pike and his colleagues used only somewhat less mystical methods.
Using gold samples from the National Museum of Ireland鈥檚 Bronze Age collection, the researchers employed an advanced technique called laser ablation mass spectrometry to test the gold for isotopes of lead. They compared the composition of these fragments to those of gold deposits from a variety of locations, and after further analysis concluded that the gold in the objects likely originates from Cornwall.
