Gold was discovered long before modern records, with the oldest widely cited evidence pointing to ancient civilizations in the Near East and Africa. In formal historical terms:
- The earliest known gold artifacts and working evidence date to civilizations around 4th–5th millennium BC, notably in places like Bulgaria (Varna) and Egypt, indicating gold was being treated as a valuable material thousands of years ago. This places initial discovery and use well before classical antiquity.
- In terms of mining and organized extraction, significant early developments occurred in ancient Egypt (workings in Nubia) and Lydia (in western Asia Minor) where gold production and refinement were documented by around 2600–600 BC, contributing to early coinage and jewelry traditions.
- The more famous “discovery” moments tied to large-scale gold rushes occurred later, such as the Witwatersrand discovery in 1886 in South Africa, which launched a major modern gold mining industry and global interest in gold deposits. While this is not the first discovery of gold, it marks a pivotal point in mining history.
Bottom line: gold has been known and used since antiquity, with the earliest artifacts dating from around 4,600–4,200 BC, and organized mining and refining documented by ancient civilizations such as Egypt and Lydia about 3rd–1st millennium BC. For a concise historical timeline, these milestones are typically cited in sources covering ancient metallurgical practices and the later expansion of gold mining in the 19th century.
