Oldest Bling Found in Peru

The next oldest gold ornaments found in this hemisphere, also located in Peru but farther north, date to about 600 years later than this necklace, Aldenderfer said.

Scott Raymond, an archaeologist at the University of Calgary, Canada, said the date of the necklace is "remarkably early for that region to have something of that order."

He said he had not previously seen any substantial evidence from that period of the kind of ceremonialism that developed later.

The oldest previously known worked gold was found in highland Peru and dated to about 3,500 years ago, said Raymond, who was not part of the research team.

Heather Lechtman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology called the design "very interesting for such a very early piece of jewelry."

Lechtman, who was not part of the research team, said it was not surprising that early people used gold because it is available in that area and easy to work.

The research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the University of Missouri.

Related Links:

Rossella Lorenzi's blog: Archaeorama

How Stuff Works: Peru

Encyclopedia Britannica: A History of Jewelry