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→Early Use of Gold
In the southern Levant, a cave in the area of Nahal Qanah contained eight artifacts from a burial context that suggests a type of elite burial ground could have been established by the 4th millennium BC. These gold objects were in the form of gold rings. In fact, the find suggests gold could have already become the privy of the most elite in society. <ref>For more information about the Nahal Qanah cave, see: Gopher, Avi, Tseviḳah Tsuḳ, and I. Carmi. 1996. The Naḥal Qanah Cave: Earliest Gold in the Southern Levant. Monograph Series / Tel Aviv University, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, no. 12. Tel Aviv: Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University Publications Section.</ref> What the finds at Nahal Qanah and Varna Necropolis show is that early from gold's history it had already become an object that differentiated wealth and status in societies. However, the finds in the south Levant showed that gold was even more restricted, perhaps to the most elite members of society. In both cases, gold was found in the form of body jewellery, showing that its early development led to it becoming associated as a body adornment. <ref>For more information on the analysis of the Nahal Qanah finds, see: Shalev, Sariel. 1995. “Metals in Ancient Israel: Archaeological Interperetation of Chemical Analysis.” Israel Journal of Chemistry 35 (2): 109–16.</ref>
In Egypt and Mesopotamia, the two main regions where early urban cultures developed, gold was used by the 5th millennium BC. In Egypt, significant mining was likely already taking place in areas where gold deposits were commonly found, mainly in areas of southern Egypt and Nubia. <ref>For more information about gold mining and gold in Egypt, see: Klemm, Rosemarie, and Dietrich Klemm. 2013. Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia: Geoarchaeology of the Ancient Gold Mining Sites in the Egyptian and Sudanese Eastern Deserts. 2012. New York: Springer.</ref> In Mesopotamia, the first gold appears in the 5th millennium BC during the Ubaid period. We begin to get references to gold in texts by the 3rd millennium BC, showing it becoming an important object for imports. However, in many cases, where gold has been discovered, it was found as an alloy with silver (i.e., electrum). At times, gold was also alloyed with lead, indicating that pure gold was generally more rare.<ref>For more information about gold in Mesopotamia, see: Leick, Gwendolyn. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia. 2nd ed. Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras, no. 26. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, pg. 79.
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