Gold in prehistory and antiquity: up to 500 AD.

The first evidence of gold use by humans was found in prehistoric tombs in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians living there formed the world's first community. Archaeologists have shown that people there used gold in the form of jewellery and to decorate headgear as early as 5000 BC. 
 
In ancient Egypt, hieroglyphics, which can be traced back to 2600 BC, show the Egyptians' interest in gold. Indeed, the Egyptians were the first to discover gold mines and start exploiting them. Working in the mines was mostly done forcibly by convicts under military supervision. People worked under the most wretched conditions and many did not survive the work. 
 
In ancient Egypt, gold was seen as something divine which weighed very heavily in the first period of Egyptian history when only kings were allowed to wear gold. Later, this privilege was extended to other royalty and priests. The burial chamber in the pyramid containing the king's sarcophagus was also called ‘the house of gold’ thanks to the gold accessories stored there. 
 
The gold discovered in the Nuba region made Egypt very prosperous and it was here that the foundation for gold as a standard for international trade was laid in 1500 BC.
In 1091 BC, gold first began to play a substantial role in China. Here, in fact, small gold cubes were legalised as a form of money. Several hundred years later in 560 BC, the first gold coins were minted in what is now Turkey. This shortly after the ancient Greeks began mining gold from mines in the Middle East and countries around the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
In the Roman Empire, gold also always played a very essential role. Emperor Julius Ceasar captured huge amounts of the coveted precious metal during his battles in Gaul (present-day France and its neighbours). He was able to pay each of his soldiers 200 gold coins and simultaneously pay off all of Rome's debts! The gold Aureus coin was a widely accepted means of payment for many years until it was replaced by the Solidus coin in 309 AD. 
 
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