{"id":12247,"date":"2022-02-16T19:19:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T19:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/?p=12247"},"modified":"2022-04-03T01:40:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T01:40:44","slug":"the-history-of-gold-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/the-history-of-gold-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of Gold &#8211; Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_twitter_via = \"datebytype\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"datebytype\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The History of Gold - Part 3\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n<p>According to Gimbutas (1991), &#8220;The discontinuity of the&nbsp;Varna,&nbsp;Karanovo,&nbsp;Vin\u010da&nbsp;and&nbsp;Lengyel&nbsp;cultures in their main territories and the large scale population shifts to the north and northwest are indirect evidence of a catastrophe of such proportions that cannot be explained by possible climatic change, land exhaustion, or epidemics (for which there is no evidence in the second half of the 5th millennium B.C.). Direct evidence of the incursion of horse-riding warriors is found, not only in single burials of males under barrows, but in the emergence of a whole complex of&nbsp;Kurgan&nbsp;cultural traits.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to J. Chapman, &#8220;Once upon a time, not so very long ago, it was widely accepted that steppe nomads from the North Pontic zone invaded the Balkans, putting an end to the Climax Copper Age society that produced the apogee of tell living, autonomous copper metallurgy and, as the grandest climax, the Varna cemetery with its stunning early&nbsp;goldwork. Now the boot is very much on the other foot and it is the Varna complex and its associated communities that are held responsible for stimulating the onset of prestige goods-dominated steppe mortuary practice following the expansion of farming.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the metallic (gold and copper) and non-metallic (minerals, rocks, pottery, pigments,&nbsp;biofacts) artifacts in the graves from the Varna Chalcolithic site are numerous beads of a chalcedony (carnelian) and agate composition. Three main morphological types of beads are described: type 1 \u2013 elongated barrel-shaped; type 2 \u2013 elongated with trapezohedral facets; type 3 \u2013 short cylindrical (Kostov, 2007; Kostov, Pelevina, 2008). The carnelian and related beads of type 2 have a &#8220;constant&#8221; number of 32 facets \u2013 16+16 on both sides on the elongation of the bead, which is considered probably the earliest in Chalcolithic complex faceting on such a hard mineral (hardness of chalcedony is 6.5\u20137 on the Mohs scale). In the hole of a single carnelian bead was found a gold mini-cylinder (~2&#215;2 mm). The gold artifacts from the Varna Chalcolithic necropolis are assumed to be the &#8220;oldest gold of mankind&#8221; according to their total volume and quantity. Analysis of the measured weight of the different types of gold art\u0435facts (beads, appliqu\u00e9s, rings, bracelets, pectorals and diadems) revealed a weight system with at least two minimal weight units of ~0.14 and ~0.40&nbsp;g among both mineral and gold beads (Kostov, 2004; 2007). The second one (=2 carats) was suggested as a basic &#8220;Chalcolithic unit&#8221; with the name&nbsp;<em>van<\/em>&nbsp;(from the first letters of Varna necropolis).<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_twitter_via = \"datebytype\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"datebytype\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The History of Gold - Part 3\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_twitter_via = \"datebytype\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"datebytype\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The History of Gold - Part 3\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>According to Gimbutas (1991), &#8220;The discontinuity of the&nbsp;Varna,&nbsp;Karanovo,&nbsp;Vin\u010da&nbsp;and&nbsp;Lengyel&nbsp;cultures in their main territories and the large scale population shifts to the north and northwest are indirect evidence of a catastrophe of such proportions that cannot be explained by possible climatic change, land exhaustion, or epidemics (for which there is no evidence in the second half of the 5th millennium B.C.). Direct evidence of the incursion of horse-riding warriors is found, not only in single burials of males under barrows, but in the emergence of a whole complex of&nbsp;Kurgan&nbsp;cultural traits.&#8221; According to J. Chapman, &#8220;Once upon a time, not so very long ago, it was widely accepted that steppe nomads from the North Pontic zone invaded the Balkans, putting an end to <div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_twitter_via = \"datebytype\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"datebytype\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The History of Gold - Part 3\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"amp_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/main-qimg-e2f596b9cfaf5102bc02dd8aee5e5ef3.jpg?fit=1080%2C1110&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5DV68-3bx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12247"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13156,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12247\/revisions\/13156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}