Oldest gold necklace in the Americas found in Peru: 01-04-2008
A necklace found near Lake Titicaca in southern Peru is the oldest gold object made in the Americas, archaeologists have claimed.
Carbon dating suggests the necklace is about 4,000 years old, and researchers think it was fashioned from gold nuggets.
Speaking to BBC News, Dr Mark Aldenderfer of the department of anthropology at the University of Arizona said it demonstrated an emerging social role for gold.
"The gold reflects a universal tendency for human beings to strive for prestige and status," he explained.
"The gold reflects that process in people living in a simple society which is in the process of becoming more complex," he added.
Found alongside the jawbone of an adult skull in a burial pit, the necklace was uncovered at Jiskairumoko.
Researchers also believe that the necklace was worn by a female and that the creators tried to shape the nuggets with a hammer.