The Top Drawer

Mark Aldenderfer with the University of Arizona, Tucson made an astonishing discovery at an archaeological site in 2004.  Just this month he went public with information about his find– the oldest gold artifact ever unearthed in the Americas.  The necklace is about 4000 years old, and was found in Jiskairumoko, Peru, the site of ancient hunter/gatherer groups.

The find shows that jewelry was used to differentiate wealth and prestige prior to the development of complex societies in South America.  It is commonly thought that only sedentary societies built up more material wealth than they can consume.  The people living in this area were always passing through, not settling.

The gold cylinders on the necklace weigh 5.2 grams and measure from 0.4 to 1.1 inches. They are mixed with 11 turquoise colored beads. The piece was made by using gold nuggets pounded by mortar. Flattened sheets were rolled around a tube.