Editing Gold mining (section)

==== Prehistoric period ====
Gold has been prized by most humans since prehistoric times. Archaeological evidence suggests that humans were mining gold as far back as 4000 BCE, with some the earliest known gold artifacts dating back to ancient [[Mesopotamia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sourcing Mesopotamian Gold {{!}} Research - Penn Museum |url=https://www.penn.museum/research/project.php?pid=49 |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=www.penn.museum}}</ref> Particularly in the region of present-day Iraq, gold was mined extensively. Around 2500 BCE, the ancient [[Sumerians]] developed sophisticated techniques for extracting gold from alluvial deposits and underground mines.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Sumerian Roots of the History of Gold {{!}} U.S. Gold Bureau |url=https://www.usgoldbureau.com/news/importance-gold-history-sumerian-roots |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=www.usgoldbureau.com}}</ref> These techniques included the use of sluice boxes.

===== Ancient Egypt =====
Evidence suggests that [[Nubia]] had sporadic access to gold nuggets during the [[Neolithic]] and [[Prehistoric Egypt|Prehistoric period]].<ref name=":21">{{Cite journal |last1=Klemm |first1=Dietrich |last2=Klemm |first2=Rosemarie |last3=Murr |first3=Andreas |date=2001 |title=Gold of the Pharaohs – 6000 years of gold mining in Egypt and Nubia |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S089953620100094X |journal=Journal of African Earth Sciences |language=en |volume=33 |issue=3–4 |pages=643–659 |doi=10.1016/S0899-5362(01)00094-X|bibcode=2001JAfES..33..643K |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Gold mining in Egypt involved both surface mining, such as panning for gold in riverbeads, and underground mining, where tunnels were dug to extract gold-bearing quartz veins.<ref name=":21" /> During the [[Bronze Age]], sites in the [[Eastern Desert]] became a great source of gold mining for nomadic Nubians, who used two-hand [[mallet]]s and grinding
[[Extractive metallurgy|ore extraction]]. By the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]], the oval mallet was introduced for mining. By the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]], stone mortars to process ores and a new gold-washing technique were introduced. During the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]], Nubian mining expanded under [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] occupation with the invention of the [[Mill (grinding)|grinding mill]].<ref name=":21" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Klemm |first1=Rosemarie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ky8bVJ_fYEAC |title=Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia: Geoarchaeology of the Ancient Gold Mining Sites in the Egyptian and Sudanese Eastern Deserts |last2=Klemm |first2=Dietrich |date=2012-12-13 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-642-22508-6 |pages=3–9 |language=en}}</ref>

Gold was associated with the sun god [[Ra]] and was believed to be eternal and indestructible, symbolising the pharaoh's divine power and afterlife.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Botros |first=N.S. |date=2015 |title=Gold in Egypt: Does the future get worse or better? |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S016913681400345X |journal=Ore Geology Reviews |language=en |volume=67 |pages=189–207 |doi=10.1016/j.oregeorev.2014.11.018|bibcode=2015OGRv...67..189B |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Gold has also been found in the tombs of [[Tutankhamun]] and other pharaohs.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The art and culture of ancient Egypt: studies in honor of Dorothea Arnold |date=2015 |publisher=The Egyptological Seminar of New York |isbn=978-0-9816120-2-7 |editor-last=Arnold |editor-first=Dorothea |series=Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar |location=New York, NY |editor-last2=Oppenheim |editor-first2=Adela |editor-last3=Goelet |editor-first3=Ogden}}</ref>

===== Ancient Rome and Greece =====
During the Bronze Age, gold objects were also plentiful, especially in Ireland and Spain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gold of Roman Empire - History of Roman Gold Jewellery {{!}} My Gold Guide |url=https://www.mygoldguide.in/significance-gold-roman-empire |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=www.mygoldguide.in}}</ref> [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] employed slave labour and used [[hydraulic mining]] methods, such as [[hushing]] and [[ground sluicing]] on a large scale to extract gold from extensive [[alluvial]] (loose sediment) deposits, such as those at [[Las Médulas|Las Medulas]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bernstein |first=Peter L. |title=The power of gold: the history of an obsession |date=2012 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-25210-8 |location=Hoboken, N.J}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/on1157153560 |title=Debasement: manipulation of coin standards in pre-modern monetary systems |date=2020 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-78925-398-6 |editor-last=Butcher |editor-first=Kevin |edition= |location=Oxford; Philadelphia |oclc=on1157153560}}</ref> Mining was under the control of the state, but the mines may have been leased to civilian contractors later. Gold served as the primary medium of exchange within the empire, and was an important motive in the [[Roman conquest of Britain]] by [[Claudius]] in the first century AD, although there is only one known Roman gold mine at [[Dolaucothi]] in west Wales. Gold was a prime motivation for the campaign in [[Dacia]] when the Romans invaded [[Transylvania]] in what is now modern [[Romania]] in the second century AD. The legions were led by the emperor Trajan, and their exploits are shown on [[Trajan's Column]] in Rome and the several reproductions of the column elsewhere (such as the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] in [[London]]).<ref>Dan Oancea, [http://www.infomine.com/publications/docs/Mining.com/Apr2008h.pdf A Tale of Gold] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230636/http://www.infomine.com/publications/docs/Mining.com/Apr2008h.pdf|date=3 March 2016}}</ref> Under the Eastern Roman Empire Emperor Justinian's rule, gold was mined in the Balkans, Anatolia, Armenia, Egypt, and Nubia.

===== Ancient Asia =====
In the area of the [[Kolar Gold Fields]] in [[Bangarpet Taluk]], [[Kolar district]] of [[Karnataka]] state, India; gold was first mined prior to the 2nd and 3rd century AD by digging small pits. Golden objects found in [[Harappa]] and [[Mohenjo-daro]] have been traced to Kolar through the analysis of impurities{{snd}}the impurities include 11% [[silver]] concentration, found only in KGF ore.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}} The Champion reef at the [[Kolar gold fields]] was mined to a depth of {{convert|50|m|ft}} during the [[Gupta period]] in the fifth century AD. During the [[Chola Empire|Chola]] period in the 9th and 10th century AD, the scale of the operation grew.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} The metal continued to be mined by the eleventh-century kings of South India, the [[Vijayanagara Empire]] from 1336 to 1560, and later by [[Tipu Sultan]], the king of [[Mysore]] state and the British. It is estimated that the total gold production in Karnataka to date is 1000 tons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://materials.iisc.ernet.in/~wootz/heritage/K-hertage.htm|title=The Golden Heritage of Karnataka |work=ernet.in|access-date=3 April 2015|archive-date=18 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118115109/http://materials.iisc.ernet.in/~wootz/heritage/K-hertage.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:De Re Metallica 1556 p 158 AQ23 (2).TIF|thumb|left|Late 15th and early 16th century mining techniques, ''De re metallica''|upright=0.6]]

The mining of the Hungarian deposit (present-day Slovakia) primarily around [[Kremnica]] was the largest of the [[Medieval period]] in Europe.<ref name="Postan & Miller">{{Citation |author1=M M Postan |author2=E Miller |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSia_4PpeqQC&q=Philip+IV+first+gold+coinage&pg=PR1|title=The Cambridge Economic History of Europe: Trade and industry in the Middle Ages|orig-year=1967 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year= 1987|isbn=0521087090 }}</ref>

===== Ancient South America =====
In South America, gold mining in the [[Andes]] dates back thousands of years, with the [[Inca Empire|Inca]] empire employing extensive gold mining operations in regions such as present-day [[Peru]] and [[Ecuador]].<ref name=":23">{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Incas |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-021935-2 |editor-last=Alconini Mujica |editor-first=Sonia |series=Oxford handbooks |location=New York, NY |editor-last2=Covey |editor-first2=Alan}}</ref><ref name=":24">{{Cite journal |last1=Cuadra |first1=W. A. |last2=Dunkerley |first2=P. M. |date=1991-10-01 |title=A history of gold in Chile |url=http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/economicgeology/article/86/6/1155/20927/A-history-of-gold-in-Chile |journal=Economic Geology |language=en |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=1155–1173 |doi=10.2113/gsecongeo.86.6.1155 |bibcode=1991EcGeo..86.1155C |issn=1554-0774|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They used stone tools and simple mining techniques to extract gold from rivers, streams, and surface deposits.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":24" />