It’s seems to be that gold is pretty common to find in the ancient world regardless of the culture. Statues, jewelry, clothing, etc. However gold just doesn’t seem to be all that abundant. So what happened? Why did gold become so much more rare as time went on, or has it always been this rare? Where were all the major gold mines in the ancient world and are they depleted?
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>It’s seems to be that gold is pretty common to find in the ancient world regardless of the culture. Statues, jewelry, clothing, etc. However gold just doesn’t seem to be all that abundant. So what happened? Why did gold become so much more rare as time went on, or has it always been this rare? Where were all the major gold mines in the ancient world and are they depleted?
Gold is rare and has always been rare. It is, however **common enough** to be found in significant quantities from time to time. Combine that with the following things and it explains why gold has, throughout history, been popular:
1. It is unreactive, i.e. it occurs in its elementary form and only has to be **collected** – there is no refinement process that had to be discovered or developed.
2. It’s *pretty*. Since it doesn’t corrode it also *stays* pretty.
3. It’s comparatively easy to work. Artisans can do anything with it!
4. It’s common enough to be useful but rare enough to remain stable in value – perfect currency material!
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