It’s believed that gold is formed under extreme conditions within the universe, such as when a star collapses in on itself.
Countless elements are created and expelled out into the cosmos, with many of them landing on planets. Gold is one such element, and it’s believed to have been implanted into our planet a few billion years ago when Earth was still forming.
Humanity has always had a deep fascination with gold, and it’s long been used as a status of wealth and power by notable people throughout history.
Over the last few thousand years, our ancestors created hundreds of priceless golden artefacts, with many of them still being discovered to this day. These are some of the most valuable gold artefacts ever found.
1. Eberswalde Hoard
This trove of various treasures was found during an excavation that took place in the German capital city of Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century. It’s widely regarded as one of the most important findings within the area, and dates back thousands of years when people were still settling in the region.
The treasure is made up of over 80 different golden items, including bowls and ingots. While scientists aren’t exactly sure what the pieces were used for, it’s believed that they were all sacred to the people that made and used them.
2. The Golden Death Mask
The battle of Troy is one of the greatest historical events of all time and has even been the premise of Hollywood movies. The king behind the invading force of Greece was Agamemnon, a powerful king that had a vast wealth of treasures to his name. In the late 1880s, a large number of tombs were discovered, with one of them being the final resting place of the king.
Buried with him was a golden mask, known as the Golden Mask of Death, and is one of the largest and most valuable golden artefacts in history. Along with this piece, many other smaller golden masks were found as part of a significant archaeological excavation.
3. The Lord of Sipan
Peru is a country steeped in history, and nothing attests to this more than the tombs that were found at the Huaca Rajada site, which is along the northern coast of the country. A vast treasure of golden items was unearthed in a tomb that belongs to El Senor de Sipan, who was a famous warrior priest that was buried with a hoard of priceless treasure, one that was not found in any other tomb in the area.
The tomb contained a sarcophagus in the centre, one of the first of its kind, and within the coffin itself, a man was found adorned with an assortment of treasures, one that would rival even the winnings from Australian slots online.
4. The Malagana Treasure
In the early 1990s, farm employees working on a tractor in the Cauca Valley of Colombia. The ground gave way underneath them, and they both toppled in. It didn’t take them long to discover that they were surrounded by a large treasure overflowing with golden artefacts.
They collected the treasure and began selling them to interested parties, and it’s considered one of the greatest finds of the modern age.
