Gold was first discovered as shining, yellow nuggets.

"the land of Havilah, where there is gold: and the gold of that land is good?"As far back as 3100 B.C. One reason why gold is so revered throughout the world is that it’s got such an incredible history. From the ancient Egyptians to James Bond, from Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ to the Californian gold rush, gold has played a fascinating part in world history and culture for thousands of years. we have evidence of a gold/silver value ratio in the code of Menes, the founder of the first Egyptian dynasty. In this code it is stated that "one part of gold is equal to two and one half parts of silver in value."

The Egyptians master the arts of beating gold into leaf and alloying gold with other metals to achieve variations in hardness and color. he first coins made purely from gold are minted in Lydia, a kingdom of Asia Minor.They also develop the ability to cast gold, using the lost-wax technique still used in today's jewelry industry.
The Sumer civilization of southern Iraq uses gold to creat a wide range of jewelry, often using sophisticated and varied styles still worn today. Early miners would use water power to propel gold-bearing sand over the hide of a sheep, which would trap the tiny.

Today, in the Turin Museum is a papyrus and fragments known as the "Carte des mines d'or." It pictures gold mines, miners' quarters, road leading to the mines
and gold-bearing mountains, and so on. acts alone can't explain the mystique of gold, the desire for it that has helped shape mankind's destiny by leading to the rise and fall of empires, the discovery of new lands, and the opening up of vast countries. Where is that gold mine located? Well, you know how it is with treasure maps - there's always something a little vague about them, to throw you off the trail.

The first use of gold as money occurred around 700 B.C., when Lydian merchants produced the first coins. The "Gold of Troy" treasure hoard, excavated in Turkey and dating to the era 2450 -2600 B.C., show the range of gold-work from delicate jewelry to a gold gravy boat weighing a full troy pound. Sometimes, they solidified near one another. Gold, one m the rarest metals, for example, is often found with or near quartz, the most common mineral. The ancient Egyptians noticed this neighborliness early, and when they saw quartz they looked for gold. These were simply stamped lumps of a 63% gold and 27% silver mixture known as 'electrum.'

old Is also found with silver, and the famous Comstock mine in Nevada became a much bigger and richer source of silver than of gold. King Ferdinand of Spain sends explorers to the Western Hemisphere with the command to "get gold."In addition, gold is found with a form of iron known as pyrites. Gold reaches intra-day historic high price of $870 on January 21 in New York.Because iron pyrites are similar to gold in color and brightness, they are often mistaken for gold-hence the name "fool's gold."
Gold-coated compact discs are introduced.

Modern thought is that it portrays the Wadi Fawakhir region in which the El Sid gold mine is located, but the matter is far from settled. Jason and the Argonauts sought the Golden Fleece around 1200 B.C. he world would be a lot poorer, both in wealth and story, without gold.That Greek myth makes more sense when you realize that the fleece that it refers to is the sheep's fleece used in the recovery of fine placer gold. Although Helen of Troy's beauty was such that she was said to have the face that launched a thousand ships, it was Paris in legend who started the Trojan War.