What is the Deep Impact of Gold

Few naturally occurring substances have had nearly universal value among ancient and modern societies as gold. We often think of gold as something decorative or worn. However, in the ancient and modern worlds, gold was also the standard in which economies and value of other objects were measured by. In effect, gold helped structure and continues to help structure economies around the world today.

How Gold Became Important for Economies

Gold has been found in a variety of ancient societies in the New and Old Worlds. In almost all these contexts gold was often buried with high status individual, indicating its value to ancient elites and leaders.