Amazing Examples of Ancient Celtic Gold

Celtic gold bracelet found in Cantal, France

A belt made of 2.8 kilograms (6.2 lb) of pure gold, discovered in Guînes, France. 1200-1000 BC

Etruscan Gold Jewlery:Etruscan Gold Jewelry: Metropolitan Museum of Art

This tomb group represents one of the richest and most impressive sets of Etruscan jewelry ever found. It comprises a splendid gold and glass pendant necklace, a pair of gold and rock-crystal disk earrings, a gold fibula (dress fastener) decorated with a sphinx, a pair of plain gold fibulae, a gold dress pin, and five finger rings. Two of the rings have engraved scarabs that revolve on a swivel bezel, one is decorated with embossed satyr heads, and the other two have decorated gold bezels. The disk earring is originally a Lydian type of jewelry that became fashionable in Etruria in the latter part of the sixth century B.C., when the Etruscans were strongly influenced by eastern Greek artists and their works.

Early 5th century b.c.; late Archaic
Etruscan Gold, glass, rock crystal, agate, carnelian

Etruscan Gold Jewelry

Etruscan Gold: Crown and Jewelry

Crown and Etruscan gold jewelry discovered in the necropolis of Vulci Camposcola - Gregorian Etruscan Museum

Gold of Troy: Priam's Treasure - Gold Jewelry

The gold work of Troy, found by Schliemann. Found in the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul.

FROM THE KUBAN, LAND OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE

In the steppes north of the Black Sea. These finds testified to the existence of close connections between Olbia (in the storyline of Realms of Gold and the natives) as early as the sixth Century B.C.

Diadem in the shape of a broad band ornamented with flowers and rosettes alternating with figurines of birds. There is an amber inlay in the central rosette. The band has wire loops at the ends.

Gold. 66.8 cm. long, 7.2 cm. wide; Kelermes--Kuban .VII-VI c. B.C.

The first discoverers of gold were prehistoric, well before the civilizations of the Pharaohs of Egypt, and the Sumerians. But gold soon attracted the admiration of the rich and royal, and since then, kings and emperors, explorers, pirates, and thieves have been associated with this precious metal, perhaps more precious than ever at this very time in our history.

The legend of Jason and the Argonaut, and the search for the Golden Fleece is an example of reality evolving into myth. The Roman historian, Strabo(1st century B.C.) writes about these villages by the Kuban River in Ukraine, where gold collectors used sheepskins to trap the fine gold particles in the rivers and streams flowing from the Caucasus Mountains. The skins could then be dried and beaten to shake out the gold dust. This practice continued well into the 20th century. I think we can safely conclude that the Argonauts sailed to Colchis, a kingdom on the Black Sea, searching for gold. They most likely heard about this wondrous process from other seafarers and traders.

The Greeks and Etruscans traded with the Celtic tribes along the Rhone and its tributaries, and from archaeological remains we know they were very much influenced by Hellenic and Etruscan cultures. Homer's date is circa 800 B.C, contemporary with the Celts of Latisco, now Mont Lassois. I often envision these Celts sitting rapt around their fires, listening to the bards of the Hellenes, reciting their tales of Jason and the Argonauts as they built their ships, preparing to set out to find the Golden Fleece,

Bronze Age Jewelry for a Lady of Fashion

I took this photo in the Museum of Dijon, in, Côte-d'Or, Burgundy, eastern France, where the Krater of Vix was discoveredin 1953.

This jewelry dates from the late Bronze Age, 1000 B.C. about two hundred years earlier than the arrival of the Hallstatt Celts. The jewelry shows the considerable skill of the goldsmith.