Akan Gold

The Akan became one of the most powerful groups in West Africa.

The Akan are an ethnic group native to Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Ethnic Akans are the largest ethnic group in both countries with a population of 20m. From the 1500s the Akan dominated gold mining and trading in the region.

This wealth attracted European traders. Initially the Europeans were Portuguese but eventually the Dutch and British joined in the quest for Akan gold. Akan people fought against the European colonists to maintain autonomy including many Anglo-Ashanti wars: the war of the Golden Stool, and other similar battles.

By the early 1900s all of Ghana was a colony or protectorate of the British while the lands in the Ivory Coast was under the French. On 6 March 1957, following the decolonization from the British, the Gold Coast was joined to British Togoland, and the Northern region, Upper East region and Upper West region of the Gold Coast to form Ghana. Ivory Coast gained independence on 7 August 1960.

The Holzthum Hoard

Archaeologists in Luxembourg unearthed a stash of Roman gold coins. The coins span nine Roman emperors who reigned during the fourth and fifth centuries—including Eugenius, an illegitimate usurper who ruled the Western Roman Empire for just two years. Coins were excavated at an archaeological site in the northern village of Holzthum. The Holzthum Hoard consists of a total of 141 solidii, encompassing eight Roman emperors, who reigned between 364 and 408 AD.

Eugenius

The burial site was a Late Roman military fort, based on the foundations of the building that the cache was deposited in. The eight Roman emperors were Valentinian I, Valens, Gratian, Valentinian II, Theodosius I, Magnus Maximus and the ursurper Eugenius, of which three solidii were attributed to him, minted in Lugdunum, modern day Lyon. Eugenius, whose brief reign resulted in clashes with Theodosius I, and subsequent demise at the Battle of the Frigidus in September 394, meant few of his coins were minted. The gold solidi are in excellent condition and because they include very rare examples, experts evaluated the coins at 308,600 euros, approximately $322,000. The Ministry of Culture paid the valuation as a finder’s fee to the landowner and acquired the coins for the nation. They will go on public display after they are conserved and studied.

Ancient gold of Romania

What archaeologists called the "most sensational finds of the last century" surfaced not in a museum but at Christie's New York. Among ancient jewelry for sale on December 8, 1999, was Lot 26, a spiraling, snake-shaped gold bracelet that was identified as a "massive Greek or Thracian gold armband."

Christie's estimated it would sell for as much as $100k. When the bidding stalled at $65k the bracelet and its owner disappeared back into the underworld of ancient artifacts. Lot 26, "massive Greek or Thracian gold arm band," circa 2nd-1st Century, B. C.

Lot 26 set off a search to recover the lost heirlooms of Dacia, an empire that was once a rival to ancient Rome. After nearly a decade of sleuthing more than a dozen similar bracelets have been found, along with hundreds of gold and silver coins. Their discovery has led to new insights into Dacian society and religion. Sarmizegetusa was once the capital of the Dacians, a civilization crushed by the Roman Emperor Trajan in two bloody wars more than 1,900 years ago. The victory, Roman chroniclers boasted, yielded one of the largest treasures the ancient world had ever known: half a million pounds of gold and a million pounds of silver.

After his victory, Trajan took the spoils to Rome, where they paid for his forum. The Roman Senate erected a column dedicated to Trajan illustrating the story of his wars. Sarmizegetusa was forgotten. But stories of Dacia's gold lived on, inspiring generations of locals who lived nearby to dig in the steep valleys. It wasn't until Romania's communist dictatorship collapsed in 1989 that dreams of striking it rich came true. Groups of local treasure hunters started using metal detectors to hunt for artifacts in the thick forests at the rugged site.

Treasure hunters hit the mother lode in May 2000, according to police. Their metal detector pinged over a stone slab about two feet wide, embedded in a steep hillside. Underneath, in a small chamber made of flat stones propped against each other, they found ten spiraling, elaborately decorated Dacian bracelets, all solid gold. Over the next two years, Romanian police say, looters found at least 14 more bracelets at Sarmizegetusa.

Sarmizegetusa's stolen gold was nearly lost. Recovering it involved a decade of sleuthing by Romanian prosecutors and museum curators. In all, Romanian authorities have recovered 13 hammered gold bracelets and more than 27.5 pounds (12.5 kilograms) of gold.

The recovered bracelets—now on display in Bucharest, are the only ones of their kind discovered in Romania. At least another dozen, including the one still known as Lot 26, remain missing.

The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Mrs Edith Pretty lived in the village of Sutton Hoo, overlooking the River Deben and the town of Woodbridge in Suffolk. She believed that there were important ancient burial mounds on her property. In 1938 she asked an archaeologist to excavate the barrows. Three of the mounds had been robbed in ancient times but one still contained a spectacular Anglo Saxon burial chamber built inside a 30 metre long wooden ship.

Inside the burial mound was the imprint of a decayed ship and a central chamber filled with unfathomable treasures. It is the richest intact early medieval grave ever found in Europe. More than a grave, it was a spectacular funerary monument. The Sutton Hoo Treasure is one of the most important finds in British history.

The treasure included armour, weapons, gold coins, gold jewellery with garnet settings, silver cups and silver-supported drinking horns, a leather purse with a jewelled cover containing 37 gold Merovingian coins, three coin-sized blanks and two ingots.

The burial chamber was probably constructed for an East Anglian monarch (bretwalda) - likely King Rædwald.

The site has been vital to historians for insight into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia and the early Anglo-Saxon period in the 6th century.

The gold belt buckle is a masterpiece of early medieval craftsmanship, made using over 400g of gold with an intricate decoration of intertwining creatures inlaid with niello (a black metal alloy). A purse lid would have been attached to a leather pouch which originally hung from a waist-belt. Frankish gold coins were found inside. Only the gold frame and catch survived, the leather pouch had decayed away.Gold coins and ingots were found inside the purse. Each coin came from a different mint in Francia, across the English Channel, and they provide key evidence for the date of the burial. Analysis of their gold content and date of minting point towards the period around AD 610–635.

The shield had a metal rim and gilded copper alloy and gold and garnet fittings. It is the most elaborate shield to survive from Anglo-Saxon England. The original board, made from lime wood covered in animal hide, perished and has been replaced with a modern replica. The true identity of the grave's inhabitant may never be certain. When it was unearthed, any bodily remains had long since been claimed by the acidic soil leaving only a human-shaped gap among the treasures.

The Seleucids

Seleukos I Nikator (The Victor), Founder and King of the Seleukid Empire of Syria, 312-281 BC.

The Seleucids were a Greek dynasty who ruled much of the Middle East from 312 to 64 BCE. There were 28 Seleucid kings and one queen. Ten died in the many wars of the era; others were assassinated, often by relatives. Founder of the dynasty was Seleucus I, born in Macedonia about 369 BCE and a companion of Alexander the Great. In 312 BCE he recaptured Babylon. This event marked Year 1 of the 'Seleucid Era'. In 281 BCE, Seleucus tried to conquer Macedonia. It ended poorly for him as he was murdered. His son, Antiochus I, became king. Antiochus II's son Seleucus II Callinicus came to the throne around 246 BC.

Seleucus II was soundly defeated by Ptolemy III of Egypt and then faced a civil war against his brother. A revival in Seleucid fortunes began when Seleucus II's younger son, Antiochus III, took the throne in 223 BC. Seleucid renewed glory was temporary.

A rare Silver Tetradrachm of the Seleukids

Grand plans meant a collision course with the Roman Republic. At the battles of Thermopylae (191 BC) and Magnesia (190 BC), Antiochus's forces suffered defeats. By 100 BC, the Seleucid Empire existed only because no other nation wished to absorb them. Mithridates was defeated by Pompey in 63 BC. Pompey saw the Seleucids as troublesome and did away with both rival Seleucid princes. He made Syria into a Roman province and the Seleucids faded into history.

Pompey Magnus

Tolita-Tumaco gold figure

Discovered near the border of Colombia and Ecuador, the 100 BC figure is from the Tumaco-Tolita culture. The Tumaco-La Tolita lived on the coasts of Ecuador and extended as far north as Buenaventura, in Colombia.

The peak of the Tolita culture lasted around 700 years. Its demise was marked by the abandonment of the Island of La Tolita around 400 AD. The artisans of the Tumaco culture excelled in the work of gold, platinum and tumbaga (an alloy of gold and copper). These metals were mainly used for artistic objects. The earliest evidence of the use of metals in the region comes from the archaeological site near the Islandof la Tolita, where a sheet of gold was found that was dated between 915 and 780 BC. The metalsmiths of the Tolita culture were the first in the world to work with platinum, at least 1,400 years before European blacksmiths. Platinum has a very high melting point, so Tolita blacksmiths had to develop techniques to work the metal without melting it, one of them is sintering, which is achieved by mixing platinum powder in gold or silver.

Trove of 11th century gold coins in ancient Caesarea

In 2018 six rare Byzantine gold coins and 18 Fatimid-era coins testified to a wealthy family fleeing conquest on the eve of the bloody 1101 crusade. 24 gold coins and a gold earring was discovered in a well-hidden bronze pot during excavations in the ancient harbor of Caesarea. The dinars were all 24k gold, whereas the Byzantine coins were 22k. The treasure was likely hidden during flight from the bloody Crusader battle of 1101 at the seaside stronghold, in which the ruling Fatimid empire was routed and its people massacred or taken as slaves. The hoard was immensely valuable. One or two of the gold coins were the equivalent of the annual salary of a farmer.

Baldwin I of Jerusalem was behind the Crusader conquest of Caesarea in 1101. After his coronation on Dec 25, 1100, he captured a series of port cities from the Egypt-based Fatimid empire.

Five of the six rare 'Christian' coins belong to the reign of Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Doukas (1071–1079).

Caesarea was the capital of the Roman province of Judaea in 6 ce. It was a centre of early Christianity. The Jewish revolt against Rome was touched off at Caesarea in 66 ce. Caesarea was the capital of the province renamed Syria-Palaestina by Hadrian.

Under the Byzantines it was capital of the province of Palaestina Prima. The city declined under later Byzantine and Arab rule. Its port and part of the ancient citadel were rebuilt by the crusaders; the city was successively taken and retaken by Muslim and crusader forces.