As long as there have been people, there’s been an attraction to gold. From pharaohs to hedge funds, gold has been an important tool of building and protecting wealth. This interactive gold timeline carries you through gold's enduring path as a universal symbol of wealth. To navigate the timeline, click and drag the gold nugget across the screen. 4600 B.C. - 3000 B.C. Gold artifacts found in Varna Necropolis, a gravesite in present day Bulgaria, are the earliest evidence of mankind's ornamental use of gold. The Sumer civilization, which existed around 5,000 years ago in Mesopatamia, use gold for jewelry and ... (full story)